Till Death Do Us Part
by MurderingxMyxTeddyxBear
Summary: Max and Fang are 19 and in love. Happily living a life as normal kids with the rest of the flock, everything is perfect. At least until tragedy threatens to rip the flock apart. This might be the end of the infamous gang forever. Read to find out. Rated T
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Why hello again strangers. It's me again. Continueing to write sappy Max Ride fanfics. Yeah...that's me. Anyways...I wanted to try something new. And there's just a few things I have to clarify before we begin my newest creation. Ahem...

**Ages - Max: **19 **Fang: **19 **Nudge: **16 **Iggy: **18 1/2 **Gazzy: 13 Angel**: **11 Total**: I have no frickin idea. He can be a gazzilion years old if you want.

**Relationship Status**: Max and Fang are already together. Nudge has a boyfriend. (No, it's not Iggy) Oh Dr. Martinez is getting remarried. (Not to that Jeb weirdo, though. Some random guy she met at a veterinary convention. Let's just pretend those exist, okay?) None of the others in the flock are dating.

This is in no way shape or form a sequel to my last story. But...I guess it sorta could be if you wanted it to. Don't worry..you don't have to have read my last one to understand this one. Now...I'll stop chattering and get on with the story. Enjoy!

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**Chapter 1: High Flying in San Francisco **

**Max's POV **

"Look, Max! It's the Golden Gate Bridge!" I glanced down through the thick swath of clouds to the large formation below me. It was the Golden Gate Bridge in all its wonder an glory, and all that. I should probably explain why the heck me and the flock are in San Francisco. If you have absolutely no idea why a bunch of kids are flying over the Golden Gate Bridge, or why I refer to my friends as "the flock", then I invite you to go somewhere else and Google me, 'cause I'm not taking the time to explain. Anyways... In a nut shell, my Mom's getting remarried. It's in about a week, but we decided to come down early to see everyone. My mom had moved out here a couple years ago and met some guy at one of her veterinary conventions. If you ask me, that seems kinda wierd, but I shouldn't be talking. It's been a little while since we 'saved the world'. Two years, about. It's a long story...don't ask. I'm 19 now. My wonderful boyfriend, Fang just recently turned 19 as well. Nudge is still the mouth of the family, and Iggy and Gazzy are still my little pyros. Not alot has changed since we were 14. Everything's perfect now...that's why I can't figure out why everything feels so wrong. Like something's missing. I never thought I'd say this,but...I think I miss trying to save the world. Think about it. You're never bored when you're trying to save the entire frickin' world. You don't have to worry about all the other stupid teenage stuff like getting a boyfriend or having a cellphone, 'cause you're most likely more concerned with saving the world. But...some things are nice about being finished, too. Like, just having days where you can watch bad cartoons in your pajamas all day. Or getting to see my mom more. It's kinda nice. Anyways, we'd been flying for probably about two hours. We'd had a little temporary place in Arizona with one of my mom's old friends, and then we got a little bit of a more permanent one in Seattle. Me, Fang, and Iggy had taken part time jobs wherever we could find them and Nudge had a summer job at some boutique out in Renton, so she'd go up and stay with friends there on weekends when she worked. We were trying to put the younger ones through highschool and middleschool so far. I'm not sure we'll be able to do college, though. I'll stop worrying now. After all, my mom is getting married. I've never met the guy. Can't even remember his name. I think it was Dave or something. This should be interesting. I shifted the package under my arms nervously. I seriously hope he's a nice guy. I don't know how I'm gonna break the news to him that I'm a bird kid. I'm not sure I want to. Anyways, the package I had under my arm was for Ella. Her birthday had been about a month ago, and I wanted to get her something. She seemed to like Taylor Swift alot, so I had gotten her tickets to go see one of her shows. I didn't really know who this chick was. I think Nudge might listen to her. I like bands more like Paramore and even a little Slipknot when I'm angry.

"Max? How much farther?" Angel asked as she flew up beside me. She had really grown up. She was always really cute, but now she was getting to be really beautiful. She had cut her hair kinda short and sported a tan from when we were in Arizona. Since she looked about three years older than she actually is, I'd seen alot of guys eyeing her up. It made me want to lock her up in a tower so none of them could get near her. She's still my baby. I don't want some creep on the street to steal her away from me! That would be awful! Speaking of guys....Nudge has a new boyfriend. He's a cutie too. I mean, for a 16 year old. She met him down in Renton at one of her friend's sixteenth birthday parties last year, and they've been together ever since. Nudge had been talking about maybe going to highschool down in Renton. That thought scared me a bit. Renton's only a little ways away from Seattle, but we were thinking about moving back to Virginia. It would be much nicer there. With more open space. "Max?" Angel asked again. I snapped back to attention.

"Only about ten more minutes, hon. We're almost there." I reasurred her. She nodded and flew back towards Nudge who had her ipod in. I could hear some boy band blaring out the speakers. I rolled my eyes. Nudge and her boy bands.... I resumed my attention to the beautiful sky out in front of me. It was splashed with reds and oranges, and the fog made it look even cooler. I sighed contentedly. This was what I had always wanted. But then...why did I feel so empty?

"Hey...how's it going?" asked Fang as he flew up beside me and grasped my hand. He was still quiet and all (I think he always will be), but he'd been more talkative than he ever had been in the last few months. And he had gotten even more unbelievable gorgeous as he had grown up. I was a lucky girl.

"Fine...I'm just...looking at the view." I said absently. "Pretty, isn't it?"

"Yeah...she sure is..." Fang said, not taking his eyes off me. I blushed and shoved him playfully.

"Stop it." I teased.

"Make me." he retorted. And with that, he grabbed me around the waist and pulled me to his chest. He quickly kissed my cheek and then released me. "So...it'll be nice to see your mom again." he said. I nodded. "I'm not sure what to think of this Steven guy, though." he continued. So that's what his name was. Fang was always way better with names than any of the rest of us.

"I dunno...he sounds nice." I shrugged casually, though I was a little worried myself. I would get over it, though. We just flew silently for a couple of minutes before we were so politely interrupted by a rather hyper Gazzy.

"Hey guys! I think that's it! I think I see the house! You said it was on Mason Blvd. right?" he shouted excitedly. I shushed him and pulled the piece of paper with the address on it out of my pocket. I could barely make out my scrawny, scrunched up scribble. I had taken it down at the last minute.

"Uh...yep. 114 Mason Blvd." I informed him, squinting so I could read my writing. Jeese...I'm pathetic. I can save the world and all of my family and friends, yet I can't read my own writing!

"Yeah! There it is! The big white one!" Gazzy pointed eagerly towards the ground. My hawk eyes allowed me to make out the form of a semi-large white house down below us.

"All right guys! Let's land over there, in that woodsy area! We can walk the rest of the way. It'll only take, like, five minutes! Everyone down!" I shouted before going into a straight dive. We were coming closer and closer to the trees. Finally, with about an inch to spare, I pulled out of the dive and landed smoothly on the ground. The others pulled into a gracefull stop as well. Except for Gazzy, who was still a little overexcited for any sort of smooth landing. We pushed through the scrubby underbrush and finally emerged onto a large street. It was cooler now that it was late, but warm enough. "Let's see...112...113...114!" I said as we came upon the house. It was really very beautiful. It was all white except for the green shutters on the four large windows that faced us. It's walkway, lined with all sorts of flowers and even a blossom tree, ended in a set of stairs, which led up to a large wooden door with a brass knocker on it. There was even a small tower built in. I could see why my mom picked this house. Large, but cozy with a nice design and lots of room for plants. My mom was a huge gardening buff. It was rediculous. Suddenly the door swung open and out came none other than my mother herself.

"Hi, kids! How are you? You have a nice flight? It sure is nice out today, huh?" she babbled as she ran down the walkway to meet us. She wrapped me in a big hug and continued to the same for the rest of us. Even Fang got a hug. Aww... "Ella's out with some friends right now, but she'll be back later tonight. Oh! I'm so glad you're here! Come in! Come in!" I rolled my eyes. I know it's been forever since I last saw her, but I think she was being a little overwelcoming. Once inside the house, I realized it was pretty fairly sized. The entrance hallway was dark green with wood paneling and a few coat hooks. We followed her through to the living room. "Go on...make yourselves at home." she offered. Gazzy instantly flopped down on the couch and Iggy plopped down next to him. Total scrambled up onto a large recliner in the corner of the room. I sniffed the air.

"Ooh! Are you making chocolate chip cookies, mom?!" I asked. The room was filled up with the sweet scent of them. She smirked.

"Maybe...You'll have to wait and see." she teased. I giggled. Ahh...it was nice to be home. "All right...so, I'll go get those cookies ready and then I'll show you your rooms. I hope you don't mind...I've got Iggy and Gazzy sharing, and then Angel and Nudge. You and Fang have your own rooms." she told me. We all nodded. This is how we were used to being split up. It was routine. My mom hurried off to go tend to the sacred cookies.

"This is a nice house." Nudge said appreciatively, glancing around. I nodded. There was silence for a minute and then my mom came back with the cookies. Everyone swarmed around her like bees drawn to honey. They all stuffed their little faces with them, and by the time I got there, the platter was empty.

"Hey...no fair." I pouted. My mom could forget how much we ate. I hope she'd cooked a bigger dinner. Fang chuckled and threw his arm around my shoulder.

"Chill, Max. Here...you can have half of mine." He broke his remaining cookie in half and gave one to me. I contentedly shoved it into my mouth. Fang shook his head and squeezed my shoulders. My mom grinned at the two of us. We'd only just told her we were together the last time we'd been up here, which was about seven months ago.

"All right. Let's go get you settled in. Nudge and Angels' room is just down the hall. The rest of you guys' rooms are upstairs. Ella's is down here too." She ushered us into a sorta large purple room. The carpet was shaggy. It felt nice on my now bare feet. The two beds were small, but we'd only be here for a couple days. Nudge squealed in excitement.

"Ooh! I love this room! It's my fave color too!" she exclaimed. She plopped down on a bed and swung her luggage up with her. I'd told everyone to pack light, 'cause whatever they brought, they would have to carry. Nudge had nearly fallen out of the sky. At least all the dresses for the wedding were already here. Did I mention I was going to be a bridesmaid? So is Nudge. Angel's gonna be the flower girl, and Ella's the maid of honor. The guys didn't get to be in the wedding, though, 'cause Steve didn't even know them. Haha! I'm still kinda laughing about that. After that, we found Iggy and Gazzy's room upstairs. Then we wen to to check out mine and Fang's. Fang's was dark with a large bed and a little desk in the corner. He only had one small window. It suited him perfectly. I laughed.

"You sure know Fang well." I told my mom. She laughed along with me. Fang was quiet. I came up behind him and whispered into his ear, "Can I borrow your i-pod?" He shivered slightly. I giggled at his reaction. He tossed me the ipod and then basically backed us out of the room at gun point so he could unpack. Finally, we made it to my room. It was down the hall and to the left from the rest of the guys. I pushed open the door and gasped. The room was beautiful! It was all white with really high ceilings. The carpet was a really pale blue and the bed was a slightly darker blue. Behind my bed, were to huge windows looking out to the backyard. It was very bright and home like. The exact opposite of Fang's. "Oh mom! Thanks. It's perfect." I wandered into the room and set my stuff on the bed. "You didn't have to do all this for us." I told her. She shook her head.

"No... this was the guest room. And Fang's happened to have an extra bed in it. The rest was easy to put in. Steve gets old furniture from yard sales all the time. The other stuff was easy to find. You guys were gonna be up here for a while, so I figured I could rearrange everyone's rooms and stuff. It was fun!" she assured me. I looked around again. Oh...this was the kind of stuff I wish I could give the flock. I flopped onto my bed and layed backwards. I sighed happily. I heard the bed creak. My mom had sat down on the bed. I glanced over at her. She patted my knee. "Oh, Max...you grew up so fast. You were always so mature for your age, but...now you're actually getting older. You're almost 20. And Ella's 17 now. Before I know it, everyone will be long gone. I'll be all alone." I groaned.

"Oh, mom. Not this again!" I said. She laughed a little.

"I know...I know...I've told you this a million times, but I never get tired of saying it, even if you get tired of hearing it." she said quietly. I sat up and hugged her.

"Oh mom. I'll always love you. No matter how far away from you I am. The same goes for Ella. I know she feels the same way. Even ask her." I said. She nodded and kissed my forehead.

"Did I ever tell you what a beautiful young woman you've grown up to be?" she said. I blushed. "I am so proud of you Maximum Ride. So proud...you really are a wonderful young lady, and someday, if you ever have kids, you'll know just how very much I love you."

"Stop it..." I muttered bashfully.

"All right..I'll let you get settled in." She got up and started to walk towards the door. Before she reached it, she spun around. "Hey Max?" I glanced up at her. "How are things with you and Fang going?" she asked. I nodded.

"Pretty good..." I said casually. She gave me the look.

"Pretty good? Only pretty good?" she asked in surprise.

"Okay..It's wonderful." I gushed quietly. "We get along really great, and I just love him to death."

"How long have you guys been together now?" she asked. I thought for a minute.

"About five years now. I mean...I'm not gonna say we never broke up or anything. We did once or twice. There was one whole year where we just decided to date other people and stay friends, but I never could stay away from him for long. I didn't even really date that year. I went out a few times, but it hardly ever lasted more than a few weeks. But that was back when we were like, sixteen and still trying to figure everything out. We've been going steady since then." I told her, recalling that boring year without him. Life just wasn't quite the same when I was 'just friends' with Fang. Just something about it seemed wierd to me. Haha! And before, I used to think it was wierd that we liked eachother more than friends! I guess things change. Me and my mom were quiet for a minute.

"So...things are pretty serious?" she asked casually like it didn't matter, but I could tell it really did. I shrugged.

"I guess you could say that..." I thought for a little. Were we serious? Now that I think about it...yeah. I guess we were. We'd been together for a long time now. Things were serious. I'd never once considered breaking up with him since we were 16. I wonder if we're as serious to him as we are to me. It gave me something to think about, that's for sure.

"Just...be careful and everything." she said. I looked at her funny.

"I don't think he's planning on breaking up with me anytime soon. I think we're okay on that end." I told her. Gee..I hope he isn't thinking about that sort of stuff.

"No...just be careful it doesn't get too serious." I gasped as I finally grasped what she was hinting at.

"Oh...jeese! No...it's not quite like that with us. I mean..we don't--ya know." I stuttered.

"I know...I'm just telling you for future reference. And, if you ever need to talk to me about anything, I'm here for you." Then she kissed my forehead again and left me to unpack. I grabbed my clothes and started shoving them in the small closet. Then I unpacked my other stuff like bathroom crap (brushes, toothpaste, ect.). I slipped the ipod buds into my ear and swithched it to some loud screamo song Fang had on here. I laughed. I foung Fang's music choice very entertaining. I was just unpacking one of the only books I owned (West With the Night. I'd found it in the basement of my mom's old place. Only recently got a chance to read it. I like it, but it was kinda hard to understand.), when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped around, pulling the ear buds out. I screamed. Standing right in front of me was a strange man I had never seen before.

"Ahhh! Freak!" I yelled befor proceeding to beat him over the head with my book.

"Ow! Wait! Max--stop!" he yelled

"How do you know my name, you stalker?!" I shouted back, still hitting him with the book. See...they aren't just for reading. The door burst open and Fang stormed in. He was followed closely by my mom and the others who must have heard the noise as well.

"Max!" Fang yelled, grabbing my arm midswing. "Stop!" I looked at him, confused. This man broke into our house and he's telling me to stop trying to save us all?!

"Max..." said my mom, walking slowly towards us. "This is my fiance, Steven. He just came up to say hi to you guys." I glanced down at the guy. He was slowly climbing to his feet, rubbing his head where I had hit him. I blushed.

"Haha...Uh...sorry about that. I...uh...thought you were a burgler." I said sheepishly. He chuckled a little.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that. I didn't know you were listening to music. I apologize for startling you." His voice was slightly formal. A weird tone for me. I shook my head and apologized as well for attempting to bludgeon him. "Anyways...it's nice to meet you all. I can't wait for you to be part of the family. Val has told me so much about you all. I can't wait to get to know you." he told us after the apology fest. He seemed so stiff and formal. Not at all the kind of person I had expected my mom to choose. But...I guess if they were happy together.

"Ella should be home any time now, so I'll start with dinner. How does tacos sound? I think that's all I have ingredients for..." Her voice trailed off as she shuffled downstairs. Angel and Nudge followed, and Gazzy trailed off at the word tacos. That left me, Iggy and Fang alone in my room. We were quiet for a minute.

"So..." Iggy said finally. "What do ya think of him?" I shrugged. Fang did the same.

"I dunno...he seems kind of upthight. But, maybe that's just because I tried to beat him to unconciousness." I said. They both chuckled. "He seems like a nice guy, though." We all nodded.

"Anyway...I'm gonna go down and check out the tacos. See ya." And then Iggy slipped out the door, shutting it silently behind him. Everything was quiet. Fang sat down on the bed. I followed suit. We held hands and just sat in companionable silence for awhile.

"So..." he began. "Liking the house?" I nodded. It seemed like he was avoiding something. Like he was afraid to talk about something. "So..." he said again. I rolled my eyes. Thankfully, he didn't catch it. "I heard your mom talking to you." This got my attention.

"Oh?" I asked, implying that I wanted to know more.

"About...certain stuff...concerning how 'serious' our relationship is." he said quietly. I blushed, knowing what he was getting at. "We never really talked about anything like that." He was almost whispering now. Neither of us could even make eye contact with eachother. I shook my head no. "And...I just want you to know. I would never...ya know...pressure you to do something like that." he said. I smiled, lightly.

"I know you wouldn't. You're to much of a gentleman. Most of the time, anyways." I teased him. He smiled a little too.

"Yeah...but if anything I do ever bothers you, or makes you uncomfortable, or anything, just tell me, okay? I don't want things to be all awkward with us. I figured we were past the stage." I leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.

"Okay...I promise I will. Now come on. Lets go get some tacos before the kids eat um all."

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A/N: Okay...yeah. That's the first chapter. I'm trying something completely different this time than my last story. No...this is not meant to be funny. It's supposed to be more of a serious story. I hope you liked it. If not...I don't give a crap. But review anyways. I need people to tell me if it absolutely sucks so I can make it better. Thanks for reading. Review!


	2. Tacos, and Boys, and Weddings, Oh My!

A/N: Hi! I'm baaack. I got some reviews, but not nearly enough to know if you guys like my story. I got maybe 1 or 2. But...thanks to the people who did. I'm thinking that this chapter might not be what I want it too, but I'll try to see if I can make something out of it. Still taking requests for up coming chapters, by the way!

**Disclaimer: I'm ashamed of myself! I didn't write a disclaimer for my last chapter! Uh Oh! I just want you all to know...if the cops come to take me, I want you to write to me in prison, okay? Well, I know I could just edit it, but I really don't feel up to it. Yeah...I also don't own Max Ride. **

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**Chapter 2: Tacos+Wedding Preperations+Boy Trouble=Not Good**

**Max's POV **

"Max! Fang! Dinners on!" my mom called up to us as we raced down the stairs.

"Coming!" I called, jumping the last three steps. I landed with a thud and then skidded off towards the kitchen, Fang hot on my heels. I stopped suddenly and Fang slammed into me from behind, knocking us both forwards into Steve's chair. Gee...we really weren't off to a good start with him, were we? "Sorry..." I apologized, trying to hold back my laughter at his surprised expression. I took my seat across from Nudge, next to Fang and looked around at everyone. My mom cleared her throat.

"Should we say grace?" she said, bowing her head and folding her hands. "Bless us 'O Lord, and these thy gifts, which we are about to recieve--" I turned red and quietly folded my hands. I didn't know the words to the prayer. We'd never been real religious. When my mom had finished, everyone started loading their plates with food. I grabbed a baked potato, two tacos, and some pineapple, then dug in. Thankfully, my mom seemed to have made enough food for all of us. Total even managed to scarf down three tacos within ten minutes and there was still plenty left. Steve watched in awe as we stuffed our faces with the delicious food. I caught him staring at me.

"What?" I asked, but my mouth was full so it sounded more like "Blaht?" He looked nervous when I spoke to him.

"N-Nothing." he stuttered, looking away. Jeese...I wasn't that scary. I mean, I guess I kinda tried to beat him to death upstairs, but I other than that, I see no reason why he should be afraid of me.

"So..." Nudge began, her plate already clean. "What have you decided on as colors for the wedding?" *Sigh* Nudge was obsessed.

"We chose blue and black. So...it'll be really subtle colors. Never liked the idea of having bright colors at a wedding. It seemed kinda odd to me." I glanced over at Fang. He seemed pleased with the color choice.

"Darnit," I whispered to him, "I was hoping I'd get to see you in some color other than black. Maybe white?" I hinted, elbowing him. He shook his head.

"I am not wearing a white tux, Max. That would be wrong." he whispered back.

"So... I read somewhere that it's kind of a tradition, before weddings, to tell how the guy proposed to you. Care to share the story?" Nudge pressed eagerly for more information.

"Nudge!" I scolded. "What if it's personal!" My mom shook it off.

"No, no. I'd love to tell the story. Well...about two months ago, Steve took me out to the beach. It was really late at night. About 1:00 a.m. I think. Anyways...we were out there, looking at the stars and just talking, when he asked if I wanted to write messages to one another in the sand. So, I said yes and he grabbed two sticks, and we started scribbling out little mushy love notes to eachother. And then...he wrote, will you marry me. So, I wrote yes back, and then he picked me up and threw me into the water."

"Aww..." Nudge and Angel sighed.

"That's so romantic." said Nudge longingly. She had that dreamy fairytale look in her eye. Angel looked like a mirror of her expression. Fang looked uncomfortable for some reason. "Don't you think that's just about the most romantic thing you ever heard?" Nudge gushed again. Fang nodded and then abruptly stood up.

"May I be excused?" he asked quietly, looking like he wanted to leave really bad. My mom looked confused.

"We haven't even gotten to desert, yet, Fang. I made cake." she coaxed.

"That's alright. Maybe I'll grab a slice later. I just need to finish unpacking and stuff." He was inching toward the exit.

"Allright..." my mom said, still a little baffled. He slipped out. I stared after him. What was wrong? What had we said?

"Umm...I've got some stuff I need to do too, Mom, if that's okay." I told her, getting up as well, and not even waiting for an okay. I took the steps two at a time, and stopped at Fang's door. I knocked. There was no answer. I knocked louder. The silence dragged on. I slowly pushed open the door, only to be stopped by a firm a hand. Fang's hand. I could see only a sliver of his face in the crack I had created by opening it slightly. He looked sad. "Fang? Is something the matter?" I asked, concerned. I hated to see Fang like this. It worried me severely. He nodded fervently and started to push the door closed. I pushed back. "Fang...what's going on? Why won't you let me in?"

"I'm--uh--I--I'm undressed." he said, stuttering terribly. I shook my head.

"Was it something we said?" I pressed. He shook his head too.

"No. I just...I have stuff to do, Max. Stuff I have to do alone." I finally backed off. He left the door open slightly.

"Okay..." I said slowly. "I guess I'll go back to my room now." He nodded and closed the door. I was awfully confused, but I slowly trailed back to my room. I plopped down onto the bed, and tried to mull everything over in my head. Nudge's head popped into the room.

"Hey...is everything okay?" she asked, walking over to sit on the bed. I nodded, not in the mood for talking right now. "'Cause...I just don't want you guys to, like, split up, or anything. Ya know?" she said quietly, for once. I pulled her into a hug.

"Nudge...me and Fang are not going to break up. That's not what's going to happen. I think he just needs some time right now. Kay?" I told her gently. She shrugged. "All guys need time alone sometimes. That's just sort of a necessetiy for them." She was very quiet for a minute, and then I heard a sniffle. "Nudge?! We're okay! Really we are. We're not gonna break up! Nudge?" I said frantically. She shook her head.

"It's not that. It's just...Alex hasn't returned any of my calls in the last week. None of my texts either. It's like he doesn't want me any more. What if he found another girl?" she sniffled. Uh oh. Alex was her boyfriend. Ya know, the one back in Renton.

"Oh...sweetie. I'm sure that's not it. He's probably just busy. Everything is gonna work out just fine, okay? Don't worry about it. He's absolutely crazy about you." I said, trying to comfort her. I'd always had a little trouble with these touchy feely conversations. She nodded and stood up.

"Yeah...I'm sorry. I'm just worried." she confided. We talked a little after that about stuff that really didn't matter and then she left. I was left alone to mull things over. Jeese...I hope everything would work out okay. I would hate to see them break up. Nudge looked so happy lately. I ran to the door and peered into the hallway. Fang's door was still closed. I sighed and went back to the bed. Was Fang mad at me for some reason? What had I done? I glanced back over at the clock. It was only 7:30. Way to early to even think about going to bed. I heard a door crack open. I ran to the hallway again. Fang was hurrying down the stairs.

"Fang!" I called out. He paid no attention and headed straight down. I sighed. The only thing I could think of to pass the time was to take a shower, so that's exactly what I did. After I was finished I slipped into the hallway, wrapped in only my towel, and then popped into my room. I quickly threw on a tank top and some shorts and began to hunt through my drawers. Finally, I found what I was looking for...a cd player. I though I'd seen one shoved to the back of a drawer. And I was right. It was old and dusty, and the latch stuck when I tried to open it, but I figured it would work. Realizing I didn't have any cds, I decided to go ask Fang for one. He always had some good ones on hand. I walked silently to the door and knocked. No answer. I sighed and shoved the door open, ready to confront him for his ignorance. The room was empty. Well...at least I knew it wasn't because he didn't want to answer. I quickly ran the floor to a shelf that had a box with all his music in it. I shuffled through it, trying to find something good before he came back. Fang hated when people went in his room without asking. It was some sort of privacy issue. You tend to pick that sort of thing up after living in a dog crate and having scientists experiment on you every day for most of your life. I finally found a good My Chemical Romance album in the mix and jetted for the door. I swung the door open and was about to scamper to my room when I slammed into something hard and black. Oh...Fang. Shit. I giggled nervously and looked down at my feet. "Oops, sorry. Gotta go!" I tried to brush past him but his arm blocked my way. I groaned. I was afraid of what was coming.

"Max? What were you doing in my room? You know I don't like it when people go in there without asking." he scolded. He sounded very serious. It scared me a little. He was usually slightly more joking about the little things that bugged him. This time he almost sounded angry.

"Just...needed some good music." I told him, waving the cd in front of his face. I pushed against his arm, but it wouldn't budge.

"You didn't go through anything else, did you?" His eyes burned into mine as he said this. I shook my head and pushed his arm again. He let me pass this time. "Don't go in my room without asking!" he shouted after me as I shut the door. Jeese...what had I done? I knew he didn't like people in his room, but he didn't need to yell at me like that. I popped the cd in and changed it to "I'm Not Okay" before sinking down onto the bed and squeezing my eyes shut, trying to forget about today.

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A/N: I'm SO sorry! I know its been a ridiculously long time since I last updated. I was too busy being lazy. I know that's just about the shittiest excuse ever, but it's pathetically true. I'm working on the next chapter as we speak, so don't worry. I'll get it in as soon as possible.

**Just an Update: **Okay...as you may know, a frickin' lot of people died this week. First, Farrah Fawcett croaked, than Michael Jackson kicked the bucket, and now the Oxi-Clean guy gos and dies too! WTF is with that? What is it, National DIE week? I think there's some sort of serial killer that's targeting famous people. If you ask me, Hannah Montana's going next. I'd say she either gets hit by a bus or someone gets so fed up with her, they finally just shove her off a building. (For example...ME) Tell me who you think is gonna croak next. I wanna know. Also, I'm taking request for future chapters. Oh...this chapter features the band My Chemical Romance. (My favorite!!!) I obviously do not own them. The song, I'm Not Okay, is theirs. Thanks for reading. RIP for those people who died.


	3. When Magazines Give You Nightmares

A/N: Okay..please PLEASE **PLEASE** send in reviews! I need your imput. Tell me if you love it. Tell me if it sucks some major giraffe abortions. I don't care. I just wanna know what YOU think. According to one of my reviewers, the next famous person to die will be...Donald Trump. A reasonable assumption. This guy's old, and right now, the economy tanks, so he's probably more stressed than a six year old candyaholic in a dentists office. Tell me who you guys think is gonna die next. It'll be interesting to see some of the answers. Hannah Montana goes next FTW. On with the story.

**Disclaimer!: **Yeah...I'm still not ownning Max Ride. So yeah...

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**Chapter 3: You Know You're Stressed When Girl Magazines Give You Nightmares **

**Max's POV **

"Max...Max, wake up." My eyes snapped open and I lurched forward, knocking my cd player to the floor. It crashed onto the ground and the batteries popped out. The cd rolled from the opened latch and circled to a still. I whiped sleep from my eyes and was greeted with the sight of my sister, Ella. Her eyes were red and puffy and she looked drained and quite sad.

"Ella?" My voice was rough. I cleared my throat and tried again. "Ella? What's wrong?" She rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders.

"The first thing you say to me after seven months is 'what's wrong'? Yep...you're definetly Max. I just came to say hi. Sorry I got home so late. I--uh--had a bit of problem at one of my friend's houses." she said quickly. I sat up and pulled her into a hug. "Oww! Max...Max...you're crushing my ribs." I quickly released her.

"Sorry." I said meekly. "What sort of problems?" I asked. I didn't mean to sound nosy, but I'm a naturally curious person.

"Jeese, Max. Are my problems the only thing you wanna know about? Honestly...it was nothing." She shrugged it off like it was no big deal, but I could see the glazed, watery quality her eyes took on. I gave her that I-was-your-age-once-too look. "Honestly...it was really just a little squabble between two friends. Just a disagreement." she persisted.

"Right. Now...what really happened?" I said all knowingly. She shook her head. "Hmm..." I muttered, studying her eyes, facial expression, and posture. Her eyes were distracted...miles away. Her face was set in that firm, trying-to-hold-it-all-together look, and the way she slumped on the bed was a dead giveaway. "Let me guess...boy trouble?" She frowned immediately, and I knew I'd hit the jackpot.

"Is it really that obvious?" she questioned halfheartedly. I gave her a sympathetic smile and nodded. She sighed.

"Wanna talk about it?" I asked. She shrugged.

"It's just the usual, crappy boy stuff. Ya know...I caught my boyfriend kissing his ex and we got in a little bit of a disagreement over who saw what. Well...actually it was a big fight. A really big fight." She looked down at her feet. It was then that I noticed the red mark across her cheek.

"Oh my god! Ella! That bastard! What did he do to you?!" I shrieked. Who was this creep and what did he want with my baby sister?! She shrugged.

"Max..it's fine. It was an accident. A knee-jerk reaction. It won't happen again. It was all a stupid accident." Her words rushed out, nervous and pleading.

"Ella! He hit you! You don't slap someone right across the face on accident! Trust me...I would know." I was really upset. Who did this guy think he was?!

"No! It was an accident! He did it without thinking! We were both mad. It was an accident! You've gotta believe me!" She looked like she was on the verge of tears. I pulled her tight to me. "You can't tell anyone! It was and accident! An accident!" She burst into tears. Jeese. Either cupid died, or it was just not a good day for love. Us girls were kinda having a bit of a bad day.

"Shh...It's alright. I won't tell anyone. Are you sure it was an accident?" I asked quietly. She nodded in frantic earnesty.

"I could tell by the look in his eyes when he apologized. He meant it, Max. He loves me. He didn't mean to hurt me." she whispered. Her voice sounded tortured. I held her tight as she cried into my shoulder.

"Shhh...You're okay now. I'm here. It's alright. Shh..." I whispered words of comfort, trying to quiet her so she wouldn't wake anyone up. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table. 12:30. That wasn't so bad. Fang would probably still be up. Oh...Fang. I had totally forgotten about him since I'd fallen asleep. I tried to shake the thoughts from my head. Ella slowly quieted. I heard footsteps in the hallway. The door cracked open, and Fang appeared in the door. What did he want? Was he finally going to tell me what was wrong? He just stared at the two of us for a long time.

"I--uh--just thought I heard somone crying. Just came to check it out. I'll leave you two alone. Sorry." That was all he said before walking out again. I sighed. He obviously wasn't going to spill anything tonight. Ella let out a couple of shuddering breaths before pulling away.

"I'm sorry." she whispered, her voice hoarse from crying. I shook my head.

"It's fine. Anytime you need me, I'm right here. Just..be careful. Don't let him push you around, okay?" I begged. She nodded. "If you want, you can spend the night in here with me, if you just want some company." I offered. Again, she shook her head. My night seemed to be filled with head shaking.

"I think I'll just go back to my room. I'm tired and I've got cheer practice tomorrow. Goodnight, Max" She slid towards the door.

"Goodnight." I whispered after her as she shut the door. I ran my hands through my hair and then bent to pick up the cd player. I shoved the batteries back in and tossed it in the drawer again. I slipped out of the room, cd in hand and walked down the hall. I hopped dowstairs and pushed open Nudge and Angel's door. Both were asleep. I kissed each of their foreheads and whispered goodnights, before slipping back upstairs and to Iggy and Gazzy's door. They were both awake, but Gazzy looked about ready to pass out. "Don't stay up too late, guys." I told them, almost too tired to care. "I heard Mom mention something about going into town tomorrow. Don't wanna be tired for that." Iggy rolled his eyes.

"Max..I'm almost 19. I think I can pretty much stay up till whenever, don't ya think?" he said.

"Yes...but Gazzy's only 13. So he can't stay up to all hours of the night." I told them, glaring at Gazzy.

"I can too." said Gazzy, stubbornly. But his head flopped back onto the pillow in exhaustion. I shook my head and placed a quick smooch on his forehead. "Eew.." he said weakly. I laughed quietly as he scrubbed at the spot where my lips had made contact with his skin. I glanced over at Iggy. Somehow, I doubted he wanted a goodnight kiss.

"Night, Iggy." I whispered. He nooded, too busy shuffling through his bag. They hadn't unpacked yet, the lazy asses. I walked to Fang's door having cleverly saved him for last. I could here 'Modern Swinger' by The Pink Spiders playing behind his door. Fang's music choice was a various collection. I knocked softly.

"Come in." he called. This surprised me. He probably thought it was someone else. I stepped in. He was typing away at his laptop. He looked up and raised an eyebrow.

"I just came to return your cd." I said, tossing it to him. The pass was a little short, but his hand shot out and caught it. I was about to walk out when he spoke again.

"What? No goodnight kiss?" His voice was joking again. I turned, surprised.

"I--I didn't think you'd want one." I stuttered. He climbed off the bed and walked towards me. He wrapped his arms around my waist and placed his lips to my forehead. We were still for a long moment. Neither of us dared move for fear of breaking the peace the room now held. Finally, he pulled back.

"I'd always want one, Max. No matter what. I'll always want you." he whispered in my ear. I could feel my cheeks heat up. Fang had a way of getting to me like that. "I'm sorry, Max. I treated you like shit. I was being a real jerk, today."

"Yeah..you were. But that's okay. I forgive you." I told him. I pecked him on the cheek. "Goodnight." He raised an eyebrow.

"That's my goodnight kiss? I feel cheated." he said playfully. I punched his arm lightly.

"Greedy today, are we?" I stood on tiptoe and pecked him on the lips. I pulled back, but kissed him again. Then again.

"Stop...teasing...me." he murmured stubbornly in between kisses. His hand went behind my head, holding me to his lips, the other one pressed me close to his chest. All of my senses were on some sort of high. That's what I loved about kissing Fang. Everytime was different and new, but not scary. It felt right. After a long time, I pulled away. He frowned.

"It's late. I wanna go to bed." I told him, yawning. He pressed the cd into my hands.

"Put it back for me, will ya?" he asked with those damn puppy dog eyes. No..not bambi eyes, but these were almost as bad. I stumbled to the box of music, still entoxicated with Fang. I heard him chuckle. I stuck it back where it came from, but being my graceful self, I simply had to knock something over. And by something, I mean the entire contents of the shelf. Something tells me I wouldn't get very far in anything that involves any sort of fragile item. A demoliton artist is more like it.

"I'm sorry." I said, stooping to pick up the stuff I had knocked off. I shoved cds back into the box and stacked some notebooks back on the shelf. I scooped up a brown paper bag and a small plastic bag tumbled out of it. I picked it up. "What's this?" I waved it in the air, about to open it. Fang lunged forwards. I jumped back, slamming into the wall. He ripped the bag from my hands. My eyes were wide with shock.

"Jesus, Max! Would you stay out of my stuff?! This is personal! You can't just go looking through people's stuff!" he shouted.

"I--I'm sorry. I--I just--" I stammered.

"I think you better go back to your room." He grabbed my shoulders and steered me to the door, lightly pushing me out. "Goodnight." he said before shutting the door in my face. "Goodnight?" I said in confusion. What? Was Fang, like, bipolar or something. Normal people don't kiss you passionatly and then shove you out the door. Except in soap operas. I was soo confused. What was with Fang? One second he's begging for kisses and the next he's attacking you over a little plastic bag. I wandered back to my room mechanically and sunk into my bed. I stared up at the ceiling for what felt like hours, then finally squeezed my eyes shut. I couldn't get to sleep. I rolled over, flicked on my bedside light and opened a drawer at random. An empty wallet, blue plastic bag with nothing in it, two Nickelback cds, a newspaper article about some sort of car accident, a broken calculator and a pile of old teen magazines inhabited the messy drawer. With nothing else to do, I grabbed a magazine and began to flip through it. An article on hair styles (yeah...I definetly need that.), some article on a chick who's boyfriend posted topless photos of her on the internet, and then an article titled 'Ten Signs that Your Boyfriend Wants To Split Up'. I glanced around guiltily, like I shouldn't be reading this, and then dove into the article.

Sign #1: He does not seem to have anything to talk about with you anymore, and when you ask him what's wrong, he says its nothing.

Sign #2: He has a very prominent change in his behaivior around you. Such as awkwardness, nervousness, and ignorance.

Sign #3: He spends quite a bit of time alone and/or avoids you.

Sign #4: Is very protective of phone calls, his room or anything else.

Sign #5: He seems eager to get away from you in alot of situations.

Sign #6: Your fights are getting more and more frequent.

Sign #7: He is careful to avoid talking about any future plans and gets nervous when you or anyone else mentions it.

Sign #8: You just have the idea stuck in your head that maybe he doesn't want you.

Sign #9: He seems distant when he's with you, like he's constantly thinking about something else.

Sign #10: He is reluctant to spend time alone with you.

By the time I had finished reading the article, I felt like I was about to puke. Fang was guilty of all those things. How depressing is that? "It's okay, Max." I tried to reassure myself. "What do these stupid girl mags know anyways? He probably just had a bad day." But I couldn't get the thought out of my head. Shit! Wasn't that one of the signs?! "Max..calm down. This is just a stupid article. He still loves you. He even said so." Well...then why would he be so pushy and hostile towards me. That's not love. I'm pretty sure. I whisper screamed into my pillow. "Just stop thinking about it." I commanded myself firmly. So that's exactly what I tried to do for the next hour and a half before falling into a restless sleep filled with brief, frightening thoughts and images. The thought of being alone and abandoned. Of no one loving me. Of everyone leaving. It haunted me all through the night.

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A/N: Yay...my favorite chapter so far. Not bad...This chapter featured the song "Modern Swinger" by the Pink Spiders. It's an excellent song, and I invite you all to check it out. Taking requests for future chapters. I'll update soon. I'm really getting into this story. I know its a little intense with like Ella and stuff, but the next few chapters should be a little more lighthearted. See ya soon! REVIEW!


	4. Scrabble

A/N: Why hello. I got a lot more reviews, and I'm glad to know you're all liking my story. There's been a lot of waiting to find out what's wrong with Fang and some requests for more fax. Well..I can guarantee this chapter contains both those things. Yay!! Well...you probably want to read so I'll shut up now.

**Disclaimer!: **I don't own Max Ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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**Chapter 4: The Most Romantic Game of Scrabble...EVER**

**Max's POV **

I woke up to sunlight pouring throught my windows directly into my eyes. I had forgotten to close my blinds. Clock? 9:30. What it really felt like? About three in the morning. I was exhausted. My sleepless night had left my eyes puffy and red, and I felt numb and heavy like I had magically gained ten pounds overnight. I crawled over to the door and threw it open. The hallway was totally empty and quiet. Deserted, it seemed. The stairs made a deafening creaking noise as I descended. Everything seemed loud and slow. When I reached the kitchen, I was greeted with the slightly comforting scent of chocolate chip pancakes. The room was crowded and loud with the sound of hungry bird pubescents. "Hey, sweetheart. Sleep good last night?" asked my mom practically the second I entered the room. I nodded slowly and took a seat next to Gazzy, who was drowning his pancakes in syrup. That poor pancake. Someone needs to invent a pancake lifeguard so they don't drown in that sticky maple.

"Jeese, Gazzy, want some pancakes with your syrup?" said Iggy, obviously impatient to get some for himself. I was surprisingly not hungry. I looked around, realizing we were missing a few members.

"Where's the rest of the flock?" I asked.

"Nudge and Angel went with Ella to cheer practice, and Fang left really early this morning. Something about having to go pick some stuff up." my mother provided helpfully. Of course Fang left. Jeese...I would really like to know what what I had done. Maybe if he didn't spend every second of the day trying to avoid me, I could actually figure something out. By the time I zoned back in again, the kitchen was empty. What? Was it National Avoid Max day? I laid my head down on hte table and waited for something to happen. Footsteps padded into the room. I turned my head slowly to look, only wanting to see one person in particular. It was Steve. He slid into the seat on the other side of the table and pulled the pot of coffee over to himself, pouring a glass full and chugging it down. He looked over at me to find me staring.

"Want some of this? You look tired." he said, holding the coffee pot out to me. I thought for a minute and took the pot, carefully pouring myself a glass. "I need my coffee to function in the morning. I'm lucky to remember my soon-to-be-family's names before I have my coffee. I'm not much of a morning person. Can ya tell?" He gestured to his bed head hair, his rumpled robe and his unshaven face. He laughed a little and grabbed a donut. "Can't go without my donuts either. Need the fuel if I wanna be able to work." He patted his stomache. What had happened to the uptight Steve I had met yesterday? It was like talking to a whole other person. He must have noticed my thoughtful expression. "What ya thinking about?" he asked, his mouth full of donut. I shrugged.

"I don't know...lots of stuff, I guess." He raised his eyebrows, telling me he wanted to hear more. "Oh...just troubles with the flo--my friends. And I'm a little worried about multiple things, that's all."

"What kind of things?" he asked. I had obviously piqued his curiosity. Shit! I had said too much. How was I supposed to explain?! At least he hadn't caught my slipup about the flock.

"Oh...just pre-wedding nerves, and I'm forever and always worried about my friends and family." I lied quietly. Well...it was half truth, I guess. I wasn't at all worried about the wedding, but I am really worried about certain flock and family members.

"How are you and your--uh--little group related, anyways?" he asked. I sighed. How to put this....

"Um...Well...me and Fang are dating. We've been together since we were, like, fifteen, but we've known eachother way longer. Gazzy and Angel are brother and sister. Orphans, so we kinda took them under our wing--" I blushed at the word wing. Even though that technically wouldn't give away anything. "And...same with Iggy and Nudge." I finished quickly, trying to get off the subject.

"You're friends have some interesting names." Steve said, shoving another donut in his mouth.

"They're just nicknames. But we've had them for so long, sometimes it's hard to remember what their real names are. Especially in the early hours of morning." I hinted, trying to be subtle. I was about as subtle as a hobo in the middle of Beverly Hills. Steve just nodded. When did he get so...understanding and open? I decided just to ask him. Otherwise it would keep me up all night. Not that I would sleep well reguardless. "Why...Why are you so talkative and friendly now? I mean--that came out wrong. Why are you all...comfortable now? Yesterday you were acting like someone had just died." I said. He was quiet for a minute, looking down at his slippers. The whole room was filled with a sort of raw emotion. It took me a minute to catch on. "Oh my god...I--I'm so sorry. I had no idea..." I blabbered out. He put his hand up to stop me.

"Max, it's okay. You couldn't have known. No one...died. You see...it's just--my father's in the hospital. He had a stroke. They...weren't sure he was gonna make it. But...he should be okay now. He won't make it to the wedding though. The trip would be to much for him. My mother wants to be with him, so she won't make it either." he told me, still studying his slippers. I frowned. I could be seriously insensitive sometimes. It annoyed me how I did that, and it made me feel terrible. "I'm sorry for the way I acted, though. That was entirely unnecessary to ruin your guys' good time with my petty problems." he apologized. I shook my head.

"No it was my fault. You had a perfectly good reason to act the way you did. I was just tired from the traveling. Not thinking that something might actually have happened. I'm sorry." I apologized as well. We were both quiet for a minute. Then he spoke, his voice normal again.

"So...what's the deal with you and Fang. You guys had a fight, didn't you." he told me matter-of-factly. I looked up in surprise.

"How did you know?" I asked, confused. He shrugged.

"Number one...father's instinct. Number two...I raised a teenage daughter with my first wife. Don't get to see her anymore, though. They moved out to Chicago or something. And number three...You guys weren't exactly as quiet as mice last night." he said. I gasped.

"My mom didn't hear, did she?! I don't want her to worry. The weddings only days away." I said worriedly. He shook his head.

"No...your mom's a very heavy sleeper. She could sleep through a herd of elephants stampeding on her roof. It's actually kind of ridiculous." he muttered. "But, really....what happened? You guys seem very much in love." he pressed for more information. I know he was only trying to help, but I really didn't feel like talking. I sighed.

"I honestly don't know what's wrong. He avoids me, he won't let me anywhere near his room or stuff and he won't talk to me. It's like he doesn;t even care anymore." I trailed off. I didn't want to complain, but I couldn't help it. Steve nodded wisely. He looked like some sort of old sage, with his slight moustache and long robe. It was kinda funny for a second.

"Well, that's certainly a problem. If you ask me...he's either very nervous about...something, or he wants his space. And the way he looks at you...I doubt he wants to break up." he told me, still looking like a sage.

"What is he nervous about?" I asked. I couldn't think of anything that would worry him in the slightest bit. Unless he was worried about something awful that he did. "The only thing that would make him nervous was if he didn't want me to know something." Steve nodded.

"Well...I think you should stop worrying. I think you'll know soon enough." he winked at me and then pushed out of his chair. "Now if you'll excuse me, Max, I have to go get ready for work." And with that, he left, leaving me confused. Very confused. I left the kitchen as well, making my way slowly towards the stairs. Halfway there, the door burst open. Angle and Nudge shot in. I raised my eyebrow.

"Where's Ella?" I asked.

"She had to stay late to practice more with some of the other girls who didn't quite get the routine." said Nudge. "She said she'd be back in time for lunch." Then the raced to their rooms. I sighed. I felt like no one was telling me anything these days. I took the stairs slowly and pushed my door open. I shut it and then slid down onto the floor, placing my aching head in my hands. What did Steve mean, I'll find out soon enough? How soon was soon enough? I banged my head back against the door.

"That's it." I muttered to myself. "I've waited too long to find out, and soon enough isn't soon enough. I'm going to find out right now." I hopped up and swung the door open. I scampered down the hall to Fang's door and poked my head in. Empty. I jumped in and looked around. The room was perfectly spotless, except for the trash can that was overflowing with crumpled papers. I grabbed one and opened it up.

_Max, _

_I love you very mu _

It cut off after that. I grabbed another one.

_Max, _

_I need to talk to you. Meet me upstairs in my _

Again it cut off. After opening another few, I realized it was baisically the same thing written over and over again but tweaked slightly every time. Was he going to break up with me through a note? No...he would at least say it to my face. Wouldn't he? Then I recalled the little plastic bag inside that paper one on the shelf. I ran to it and grabbed the bag. Opening it, I realized it was empty. Not even a receipt. He was worried about me seeing an empty bag? But...he could have moved it, couldn't he? I did a quick scan of the room and checked under the bed. Nothing. His drawers were empty except for clothes and some other stuff that didn't matter. Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming up the stairs and some muffled voices.

"Yeah...I don't know what to do. It's like...how do you tell someone that?" Uh oh! Fang was coming upstairs to his room. I couldn't let him catch me in here again. But...it was too late to dash out. I quickly put the bag back where it sat and shoved papers into the garbage can. Then I dove under the bed with seconds to spare. As soon as I quieted, I heard the door open. Two pairs of feet stood in the middle of the room. I watched them carefully to make sure they didn't get too close. "So...how should I tell her, Ig? Like...I'm so nervous, I can't even figure out what to say." Fang continued.

"I don't know, man. Just tell her like every other guy would. Ya know...just normally." I heard Iggy say.

"I can't...I've been going out with her too long. How would she take it if I did it just like everyother guy would? Not good." Fang said.

"I don't know...Do you think she suspects?" Iggy asked. Fang must have shaken his head no, 'cause Iggy continued. "Well...I think you should just get it over with. I think she'll be fine. But...dude, I've gotta go. Dr. M has, like, zippo food here, and I need some supplies if we're going to eat tonight. So...you're on your own. Sorry buddy." Then Iggy padded out of the room. I heard Fang sigh. He walked over to the bed. I held my breath. He was inches away. He sank down on the bed, the mattress nearly crushing me.

"Oh, Max...how am I gonna tell you?" he muttered quietly. So he was planning on breaking up with me! I could feel tears threatening to flow. He better leave soon so I could get outta here. Almost as if on que, my mother's voice sounded up the stairs.

"Fang?! I need your help for a minute! The new tv for the basement just got delivered, and I need your help to get it where I want it!" she yelled. I heard Fang sigh again. The bed creaked as he got up and left the room. As soon as I heard him taking the stairs, I shot out of the room and into my own to take some deep breaths. It would be okay. I would take it like a woman and be strong and not cry or beg. I would walk out of the room with dignity. No...even better! Maybe I could dump him first. Yeah...then I could totally have pride. I sighed, though. I knew I could never dump him. I loved him too much. I'll just stick with the first plan. I really didn't wanna think about it. I lay down on the floor and stared up at the white ceiling. Nothing. Wait...what was that? I sat up to get a closer look. Sure enough, a small trap door-like thing was outlined in the ceiling. I stood up and pulled my desk chair over. Standing on it to reach, I grabbed the handle of the trap door and tugged. It was stuck. I used both hands and tried again. It obviously hadn't been opened in quite some time, 'cause it didn't even budge. I tugged a couple more times, shaking the chair with the impact. Suddenly, the chair gave way to the shakes and toppled over, sending me soaring to the ground. I tried to get my wings out to get air, but hit the floor with a thud before I could move a muscle. Lucky for me, the door opened up and a ladder crashed down with me. The door to my room burst open as I straightened myself up.

"Max?!" It was Fang and my mom, probably startled by my loud banging.

"What's this?" I asked as I brushed some white dust out of my hair. It had come down in a shower when the trap door opened.

"That's the attic." my mom told me, coming to push the ladder back up in the ceiling. "It's really more like a storage room. We never use it. It's filled with our old crud and dust. It's an asthma attack waiting to happen." She shut the door. "Haven't been up there in a couple years. Don't know how you even got it open." I looked up at the attic, and then back at Fang. He had a certain light to his eyes that hadn't been there before. It was his idea face. I watched as he slipped from the room, the light in his eyes bright, again...somehow managing to not speak a word to me. How long had it been since Fang had talked to me? Probably more than half a day. Some boyfriend he is... My mom looked at me and then the door. She frowned. "Are you guys okay? I haven't heard you say a word to eachother since dinner last night. You didn't have a fight did you?" she said with worry.

"No...I guess we're just busy with wedding preperations and stuff. We just haven't had a lot of time alone. We're totally fine, mom, don't worry." I lied quickly. I didn't want my mom to be concerned about us with the wedding so close. I wanted the wedding to be absolutely perfect for her. She deserved it. It was the least I could do after everything I've put her through.

"Well...I've got a great idea, than!" she said excitedly. "How about I find a way to get everyone out of the house. That way you guys can have a couple hours of alone time to...catch up, if you know what I mean." She nudged me and giggled like a teenager. I laughed along with her. It was a plastic laugh. The kind of stale laughter you hear at funerals if someone says something vaguely amusing. Where you're trying to convince yourself more than anyone else that you're okay. My mom patted my hand and then left the room, not doubting my hasty lie for a second. How much longer would this act last. Our time alone would be the ideal time for him to tell me. No one would be around and when everyone got home we could just act like everything was okay. We could be like that around people. A faked affection on his part, I would always be in love with him. And when no one was around, we could just go our separate ways until it was time for us to take up our roles as boyfriend and girlfriend again. What a complicated play our lives would become to mask our dead affection from everyone else. I doubt Shakespear could have written a more painful plot. I turned the lights off and tossed a spare shirt over my clock. I didn't want to know the time. I shut the blinds tightly and curled up on my bed. This was not at all like me. I was stronger than this. I just needed a minute to calm myself. I kept telling myself this over and over again, but the minutes passed, and soon my eyes were drifting shut and my mind was going fuzzy. Finally, the sleep consumed me. And I was grateful, because dreams cannot hurt you the way reality can.

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It was the slam of a car door and the grinding noise of the garage that woke me up. Tearing the shirt off my clock, I discovered it was nearly eight o' clock at night. I must have been more exahusted than I had thought. I had slept through lunch and dinner. I had a huge headache and my stomache growled. I crawled out of the bed and stumbled downstairs to the kitchen. I fixed myself some toaster waffles and grabbed a coke from the fridge. The house felt deserted. I wondered where everyone had gone. I was hunting for silverware when I discovered the notes. The first one was from my mom.

_Dear Max, _

_Took the kids out to a movie. Ella's sleeping over at a friend's, so you don't have to worry about her either. Steve's with us, so you and Fang can be totally alone for a couple of hours. Hope you have fun, but don't let it get too far. Please? I know I can trust you but...I'm a mom. What can I say? Love you! Have fun! _

_Mom _

The next one was in Fang's neat handwriting. I had to take a deep breath before I read it.

_Max, _

_Meet me upstairs in my room. I have something I wanna tell you. I'll be waiting. _

_Fang _

Okay...this was it. I couldn't run away from this. I would take it like a woman and walk out of the room with dignity. I ran to the bathroom and brushed my hair and rolled on some chap stick. If I was going to get dumped, I might as well look good doing it. I took the steps unbelievable slowly. When I reached his door, I stopped. "You can do this, Max. It's not a big deal." I muttered to myself. That was a downright lie, but it would be kind of stupid if I told myself "You'll never be able to do this Max. Good luck getting torn to pieces!". I seriously hope he doesn't say "We can still be friends." Having your boyfriend break up with you and then having him say "We can still be friends" is like having your dog die and your mom saying "You can still keep it." I poised myself to knock, but the door swung open before I could. Fang stood inches from me. I could feel his breath blow into my face. I shivered, but tried not to enjoy it too much. It wouldn't last long.

"Max..." he murmured. "I have to show you something, come on." He grabbed my hands and pulled me into my room. What? He wanted to dump me in my own room? Great... "Max, I've been wanting to do this for a little while now. I've been thinking about it all day." he said, looking nervous. He's telling me how excited he is to dump me? That's nice... "So...I just wanna--" I held my hands up.

"Fang...before you say anything, I just wanna tell you that after your through with me, I think ti would be better if we just acted like nothing ever happened. The last thing I want is for my family and the flock to worry. That's the only thing I ask of you. When we're alone we can just act like we normally would after we break up. Just thought I'd tell you. It's the least you could do for me." I told him with as much confidence as I could. He looked confused for a minute.

"What?!" he exclaimed. "Wait...You--You think I wanted to break up with you?!" Now I was confused.

"That isn't what you wanted?" I asked, puzzled.

"Of course not! I just wanted to talk with you about stuff. I had this whole thing planned out. That was what was bugging me all this time. I was trying to figure out what to say! I never wanted to break up with you!" he explained urgently. I let out a breath of relief I must have been holding in for hours. Fang chuckled darkly. "I'm sorry...I didn't know you thought that. I hope you haven't been too worried."

"Pshaw! I wasn't worried at all." I lied quickly. He raised an eyebrow. "Okay...you scared the shit outta me. Don't ever do that again." He frowned.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make it that way." He pulled me closer to him until we were just barely touching. "Now come on. I've got something I wanna show you." He stood on tiptoe and grabbed the latch of the attic, tugging it open. He started to climb the ladder. He looked back. "What are you waiting for? Come on. It's up here." I started to follow him.

"Fang...mom said it was just storage. I don't think she'll have anything interesting up here. It's just--old...crud..." My voice trailed off in astonishment. The room was all empty, except for a blanket spread out in the middle of room. A ton of candles were lit all around, making the room smell floral and smokey at the same time. A wonderful combination. Two glasses and a scrabble board were laid out on the blanket. "Fang...did you do all this?" I asked, shocked. This wasn't the sort of thing he did. But he nodded and went to sit on the blanket.

"Wanna play some srabble?" he asked, gesturing to the blanket. I sat down slowly. He grabbed a bottle I hadn't noticed before and filled our glasses. I took a sip.

"Grape juice?" I asked. He shrugged.

"I'm not old enough to buy alchohal, nor are we old enough to drink it." he said. I giggled.

"How'd you get all this stuff up here anyways?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Snuck it up here when you were asleep. You snore, by the way." I punched him playfully in the arm. He adjusted the board. "You go first." I looked at my pieces, and made the word 'oven'. He placed the word 'will' on the board. I made 'nit' from 'oven'. He smirked and put the word 'you' on as well. What was he doing? He wasn't connecting any words with mine. I made 'did' out of 'nit' and waited for him to go. He slipped M-A-R-R-Y on one at a time. I put 'torn' on the board. Then he put the word 'me' on the board. I looked at him in confusion.

"Is that in the rules? Can you just make words by themsleves?" I asked him. "I thought you had to connect them all." He shrugged.

"I don't know. What do my words say?" he asked.

"It says 'will you marry me', but I don't see what that has to do with--" I cut off, realizing what I had just read. He was looking at me pointedly. I read it again. Sure enough, 'Will You Marry Me' was written across the board. I looked up at him. "Are you serious?" I asked him, still in shock. He smirked.

"Would I joke about wanting to marry you? I don't think so, Max." he said quietly.

"No...you're joking. This isn't funny. That was...that was..." I couldn't speak.

"If I was joking, would I do this?" he asked, pulling me up. When I was standing, he got down on his right knee and pulled a little black box out of his pocket. He held it in front of me and flipped the lid open. I gasped. Nestled in the padding of the box was a very beautiful ring. It was just silver, but it had a fairly nice gem in the middle of it. Tinier gems wrapped around the main part of the ring. It was simple, but beautiful. I tried to speak, but I felt like I had swallowed my tongue. "Maximum Ride..." he began, "I am hopelessly in love with you, and nothing anyone could ever say will change the way I feel about you. I can't live without you. I love you. Will you marry me?" I was absolutely speechless for a moment before my voice came back.

"Yes...Yes. Yes, yes! I love you too, Fang! Yes, of course I'll marry you! Yes, yes, yes!" I practically screamed with excitement. He slipped the ring on my finger and kissed my hand before jumping up and picking me up, swinging me around until I was dizzy. He set me on my feet and his lips were on mine in a fraction of a second. I twined our limp hands together and we just kissed. There was no yesterday or tomorrow, there was only right now. This very second was the only thing that mattered. He pulled me to him and I wrapped my hands around his neck. Suddenly, I felt him pick me up again. He didn't break the kiss at first but then he walked over to a window and cracked it open. He set me down.

"Come on. Just to the roof. The stars are beautiful." he said before jumping out. I followed after him, my mind still one track: Me And Fang. We landed on top and he sat down, leaning back against the chimney. He patted the spot next to him, so I plopped down and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I leaned my head against his shoulder and breathed in the cool night air. We stayed silent, but a million words passed between us in the quiet.

"So..." I finally whispered. "We're getting married..." I looked at him. He smiled at me.

"I guess so." he whispered back. We were talking so quietly, I doubt even the moon could hear us.

"When?" I asked, always thinking too far ahead. He thought for a minute.

"I'm not sure. But...let's not worry about that right now. Let's just concentrate on us. We're all alone. We could do anything we wanted to." His whispers made me shiver. He smirked and kissed my cheek. Then my nose, my forehead, my other cheek. And so on until his lips were on mine again. And we were wrapped around eachother again. When we broke apart for air, he was smiling. Huge. I grinned back. He leaned all the way back until he was laying down and looked up at the sky. I did the same. The stars really were very pretty. A thousand tiny specks in the sky, smiling down at us. But I couldn't stay focused for too long. I rolled over so that I was ontop of Fang, but supporting myself with one arm. He smiled. I bent my head and kissed a spot just under his chin. Then a little lower. He threw his head back in pleasure and moaned a little. I laughed and stopped what I was doing. I didn't want to take this too far. I had promised my mom after all.

"Take it easy, Fang. I don't want this to get out of hand." I said. He laughed a little and sat up, pulling me with him. I somehow ended up in his lap, his arms around my waist, his face burried in my neck.

"How about we go inside and continue the celebrations. It's getting kinda cold out here." he murmured into my skin. I climbed off and we went inside and picked up the decorations.

"Hey, Fang?" I said while scooping up the glasses. He grunted to show he was listening. "Let's not tell anyone about the engagement." He stopped what he was doing.

"Why not?" he asked, taking it the wrong way. I shook my head.

"I want everyone to be focused on my mom's wedding. That's what I want to be the center of attention. We can tell them after it's over. Is that okay?" He nodded and laughed a bit.

"You worry too much about your mother. She'd be fine if we told her. Overjoyed, actually."

"I know...I just want this day to be special for her. She deserves it." I said. He nodded.

"All right...it's our dirty little secret, then. We'll have to be extra careful around Angel." Shit! I hadn't thought about her. Well...we'd figure something out. I heard the garage door open below us. The whole house was shaking from the impact.

"Well...we better hurry up and get this cleaned up, and go pretend we were doing something before they get in." We hurriedly picked up and shoved everything in my closet. Then we dashed downstairs, trying to clear our minds of all things engagement. When they finally piled into the living room, we were playing Scrabble on the coffee table and laughing.

"Have a good time?" my mom asked. We both nodded. Everyone looked happy. Must've been a good movie. I yawned.

"Ya know...I'm really tired. I think I'll get up to bed." I told them, walking towards the stairs. Fang got up too.

"I'm pretty exhausted as well. Think I'll hit the sack, too."

"Okay...goodnight, you guys." My mom said, blowing me a kiss. I blew one back, said goodnight and took the stairs about seven at a time. I heard goodnights follow us up the stairs as we climbed into the hallway. Fang's arms slipped around my waist from behind me. He kissed the top of my head.

"Did you have a good time?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Well, duh! Of course I did. But, really...don't think about it. Angel's right downstairs." I scolded him. He scopped me up and carried me into my room. He laid me down on the bed. "You can spend the night in here." I offered.

"Oh? And just what would your mother think about that? I think I better stick to my own room." I pouted, but went along with it. He bent down and kissed me lightly. "Goodnight, Maximum." I whispered goodnight after him as he slipped quietly out of the room. I rolled over, knowing I'd never get to sleep. Suddenly, I remembered something. I crawled out of bed and downstairs. I snuck quietly into the living room and put the Scrabble back into it's box. I took it upstairs with me and slid it under my bed. I wanted to keep it. A very good memory. One of my few. I changed into my pajamas and got back into bed. Tonight was by far the best night of my life. Everything was gonna work out just like it should have been all along. My mom was getting married, and soon the flock would have a real mom and dad figure in their lives. Me and Fang. The night couldn't have been better. I'm pretty sure Scrabble is my favorite game now.

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A/N: That's the longest chapter I've written yet. I like how it's coming along. But...since everything's so perfect, I think it's about time to mess everything up, don't you agree? This chapter had more fax in it, so I hope your pleased with it. I don't really have any sort of plan to write, like...dirty fax, so no sex scene. Sorry. I don't do that sort of stuff. If you like that, go read something in the M section. I assure you, you'll find something. I'm looking for requests for the next chapter, but I think I know what I'm going to do. If you have any ideas, i'd be forever grateful if you gave them to me. Just review or message me. That'd be great. I'll update soon! I promise!


	5. Wedding Bells

A/N: Okay...though you guys had some ideas, I couldn't really think of anything to do with them. They were great! They really were. It's just...I've been having severe writers block, so I've decided to go ahead and do the wedding chapter. Enjoy!

**Disclaimer!: **I do not own Maximum Ride.

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**Chapter 5: Wedding Bells **

**Max's POV **

The next couple days passed in a blur. Cleaning, shopping, and last minute wedding preperations were the highlights of the remaining few days before the wedding. I was so preoccupied with my thoughts about what would happen with me and Fang now that we were engaged, and trying not to think about it as much as possible, that it didn't really sink in that my mother, the person I shared my flesh and blood with, was getting married. It hit me only a day before the wedding when we were trying on our dresses to make sure they fit, and then making any changes that were required.

"Max? Which do you like better on me?" asked Ella as we stood in front of the big mirror in the back of the attic. Obviously this room was getting me thinking about engagement plans, as it was the place he had actually proposed. "Do you like my hair better like this..." She scooped her hair up ontop of her head in some sort of knot. "Or like this?" This time she simply let it hang down. I was trying to make sense of her question. She had interrupted my thoughts.

"Ummm...." I couldn't think of what to say. It was the simplest question, but then again, my tongue seemed to tie in knots at the thought of any question these days. "I--I think I like it better down, but we'd have to, like, curl it or something, so it doesn't just hang there." I said slowly, trying to picture Ella's gorgeous locks in shiny curls. She seemed to agree with my suggestion.

"Yeah...I think you're right. But...do you think I should, like, put a clip in it or something?" Ella asked, sifting through the box of hairclips at her feet. She had brought it up to, as she called it, 'experiment'. My mind had wandered away during the time it took her to finish her last question and start the next one. It was after this that I began to wonder about ADHD. "Max?" she asked after I hadn't answered for a little while. I snapped back to attention at the sound of my name. This wasn't like me at all. But, I guess proposals can do stuff like that to you...

"I'm sorry, what did you say, Ella? I think it was something about the flower arrangement?" She looked at me for a long second.

"Max...is something bugging you? You've been like this all weekend, and to tell you the truth...it's kinda starting to get on my nerves. I don't mean to be a bitch, but I feel like you aren't listening to anything I say. What's up?" I thought for a minute. I could tell her...but then she might accidentally let it slip to Nudge, and once Nudge knows, there's no stopping the gossip. It'll be front page news by the next morning if you tell that girl anything. Or, I could lie, and say it was nothing, but have to live forever with the guilt that I'd lied to my baby sister. Hmmm....I think I'll take the second choice. Eternal guilt is nothing compared to the rath I'd have to face if Nudge knew our secret.

"No...I guess it's just pre-wedding nerves or something. I'll be fine. Just stress, is all." I assured her. She looked at me for another minute, but then must have decided I'd given an acceptable excuse.

"Oh, Max...everything will work out just perfectly. You just worry about fixing up that dress if it needs any work, and we'll see if I can't do you up in some makeup tomorrow, kay?" She rambled for a little bit about shoes and makeup and stuff. I mostly just blocked it out. Intentionally, this time. I cringed at the thought of having my face caked with fancy extracts and other unknowns, imagining myself looking something like Malibu barbie. I shuddered.

"Hey, Ella? Can you do me a favor, and do up my zipper? It's really hard to reach." I said, stretching my arm as far as it would go down my back, trying to reach it. She hurried over and quickly zipped it into place.

"So...what do you think of um?" she asked, twirling in a circle to see her reflection move. The bridesmaids dresses were very beautiful. Sea blue with tinges of green subtley in the background. They were strapless and flowed down a little ways past my knees. It hung in a swaying fashion towards the bottom, but squeezed tight up towards my torso. Each of us was wearing strappy silver heels. All the bridesmaids dresses were the same. My mother's younger sister, the aunt I had never met, was going to be our third bridesmaid. Nudge looked absolutely wonderful in the dress, and I have to say, I didn't look half bad either. But, though the bridesmaids dresses were lovely, they were nothing compared to Ella's. She was the maid of honor. Her dress was a quiet silver color decorated with black lace designs. Flowers near the bust, and at the hem, all in black lace. A black ribbon sat on the waist, tied in front in a simple, small bow. A thin mesh covered the entire thing, making it appear even more flowing. It scarcely went down to her knees, and was strapless. It was extremely beautiful.

"I like them both. Alot." I told her honestly, doing a 360 in the mirror as well. She giggled like a little girl.

"Ooh! I can't wait! It will be so exciting!" she squealed. I laughed at her girlish behavior. Nudge suddenly appeared from nowhere.

"Those look nice." she said, admiring our dresses.

"Don't they?!" Ella squealed again. " Hey Nudge...come here. I need your opinion on something. Do you think I should wear these heels, or these ones." She gestured to two pairs laying on the floor by the mirror. Both were black, but each was a different style. Nudge hurried forward to examine the shoes. I decided to leave them alone. This was their sort of thing, not mine.

"I'm gonna go down and see how everything's going with the others. You guys have fun." I said before slipping down the attic ladder. I could still hear their excited voices, but they were muffled, so I couldn't understand what they were saying unless I concentrated very hard. I sat down on my bed and slipped the heels off. Ouch! I was getting blisters already! I'll have to ask my mom if I could have some stockings for tomorrow. Today had been a long day. We'd had a bunch of people in and out of the house, we had to visit the hotel where the reception would be held, and we had to finish organizing seating arrangements, catering, and only about a million other things. Not to mention music. My mom was a very straightforward woman when she needed to be. Unfortunatley, the rest of us were all procrastinators. Always leaving things for the last minute. This was not a good strategy while organizing a wedding. Or any event for that matter. Event organizer...another job off my list. I was running out of options.

"Max?" Angel entered the room timidly. Her flower girl dress looked absolutely gorgeous on her. It was the first time I'd seen her in it. It was a light blue with spaghetti straps. A beaded flower design ran up the sides and mesh covered it. It went down to her ankles. Her feet were clad in white heels. She looked wonderful.

"Oh, Angel....you look beautiful." I said in awe. She looked so grownup. I kept forgetting that she wasn't a little girl anymore. She was a young lady. That sounds incredibly cheesy coming from someone like me, but the sight of her made tiny tears prick at the corners of my eyes. She blushed at my compliment and murmured a thanks. I walked over and hugged her, smushing her face into my collar bone.

"Max..." she gasped, "You're hurting me! Can't...breath!" I released her.

"I'm sorry, Angel. You just look so grownup. It reminds me of the old days...when we were still on the run and you were my baby." I said, hating that I was getting all mushy on her. She groaned.

"Max...don't start this again. You sound like a mother!" she complained.

"I am your mother." I told her. "Well...practically. But still..." She rolled her eyes.

"I'll always be your..er...baby, Max. I'll just be a reallly, really tall, grownup baby, that's all." she told me. I laughed at this. I heard shuffling, and looked over to find Ella and Nudge coming down from the attic. They were giggling. Practically in hysterics. My mom popped into my room as well. By the time everyone was down here, my room was packed.

"Well...don't you girls look lovely in your dresses." my mom said. We all nodded.

"I can't wait to see yours!" Nudge gushed. "Can we?! When are you gonna try it on?"

"Sorry...just got out of it. And that thing is a pain in the ass to put on, so I'm not retrying it on." said my mom.

"Mom!" I exclaimed. I hated it when people swore around the younger kids. Reflexes from earlier practice, I guess.

"Sorry. I'm exahausted. I wasn't thinking." my mom apologized. "I think I'll go take a nap after dinner. Which...by the way, is ready. Come and get if while it's hot." Then she began to shuffle downstairs, where I could smell the delicious scent of beef stew wafting up the stairs. My stomache growled along with everybody elses. The sound reminded me somewhat of a small earthquake.

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm starved." said Nudge. "I'm gonna go change out of this dress. Come on, Angel. I'll help you get your zipper undone." She and Angel clicked downstairs towards their room.

"Me too." said Ella, already halfway out of the room. "See ya at dinner, Max." She slipped out. That left me alone. I put my dress neatly away and changed into my pj's. I stretched, thinking about the long day ahead of me tomorrow. I was going to ponder these thoughts for a little while, but the scent of stew got too overpowering. I shot out of the room and hurried downstairs to join the others at dinner.

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Dinner was uneventful. Filled with talk about the wedding, mainly, and plans for how early we had to be up in the morning. The wedding was at 1:30, but knowing Nudge and Ella and sometimes even Angel, it could possibly take us hours to get ready. And my mom would have to get her hair and makeup done and other random stuff that happens when you're about to get married. We'd already had the rehersals, and everything was ready for tomorrow. Except me. I felt like I should be doing something. Like I had a million things to do, but I couldn't think of what it was I was supposed to do. Ever feel that way? At present, I was flipping through the channels on the new tv my mom had gotten. It was all hooked up now, and it had about a bazillion channels, so I had parked my butt on the sofa about an hour ago. An infommercial, Animal Planet, Disney Channel, Food Network. Boring! Where was all the good stuff. I finally settled for some action movie. The cars kept morphing into giant robots that either killed you or talked to you. It depends. It had alot of explosions and stuff in it so, how bad could it be? I was watching the main character and his slutty girlfriend dive behind some buildings when I felt the sofa sink in next to me. Fang had plopped down to watch the movie also. The others had gone off to bed. He stared at the tv screen. "Are you watching Transformers?" he asked after a minute of silence. I shrugged.

"I don't know. Maybe." I really had no idea what it was. He nodded. Another minute of silence. Well...unless you count the screaming and crashes from the tv, that is. Fang stretched out into a more comfortable position. Leaning back with his feet up on the coffee table. I turned around and lay down, stretched out on the sofa, my head in his lap. He looked down at me and smiled. Then he returned to the movie, absent mindedly stroking my hair. "Are you excited about the wedding tomorrow?" I asked him sleepily.

"Yeah...It'll be interesting. I've never been to a wedding before." he said, still staring blankly at the tv screen that neither of us was really watching. Our eyes were there, but our minds were a thousand miles in the opposite direction. To far away to process anything that happened. What? His girlfriend just exploded? Oh great... I wonder what Ella will do to my hair. "Ya know..." he continued, a sly tone coming into his voice, "I still haven't seen you in that dress of yours. It's been awhile since I've seen you in a dress."

"Neither have I seen you in your tuxedo, so we're even." I retorted. He stopped playing with my hair.

"Hey, Max? How should we tell them about our engagement. Some people throw, like, parties and stuff to tell people." he suggested. I shook my head. It was kind of awkward, 'cause my head was in his lap.

"I don't want a party. And, don't think about it. Angel's right upstairs." I scolded.

"I just checked on her before I came down. She's fast asleep." he informed me. I hated when he was right. Unfortunately, most of the time, he was. "Well...the wedding will be over soon, so we should probably think of some way to tell them." I thought for a minute.

"We...could...Just tell them." That was the best idea I had. "Oh! I don't know! I'm too tired to think." Fang rolled his eyes.

"I think it's way past your bed time, young lady." he said in a mock father voice. I playfully reached up and slapped his face lightly. "Ouch!" he exclaimed.

"That didn't hurt! Don't be such a baby." Before I knew it, he was tickling me. I hate in when he tickles me. He knows all my weak spots. I was giggling like crazy. I had almost wet myself by the time he stopped. He picked me up and set me in his lap, wrapping his arms securely around me. He kissed the back of my neck gently. I could feel his breath tingling on my back. I shivered.

"I love you." he whispered in my ear. I reached my hand behind me to run my fingers through his hair.

"I love you too." I whispered back. We sat there for a minute, just enjoying the quiet. Then I yawned.

"Tired?" he guessed, shifting me around to face him. I nodded, yawning again. "Well, let's get you to bed, my fair lady. Tomorrow is gonna be a frickin' long day." He scooped me up bridal style and proceeded to carry me up the stairs. Hmm...I could get used to this. He kicked open my door softly and layed me on the bed. He leaned in a pecked my lips. "Goodnight." he said, getting ready to leave.

"Hold on. I wasn't finished with you yet." He smirked and leaned in again. When our lips connected, I began to pull him slowly down onto the bed with me, until he was lying next to me. My arms practically had him in a headlock. I was in no hurry to let him go. He shifted a bit, pulling me tighter to him. I couldn't complain. It was like I couldn't get close enough to him fast enough. Fang is addicting. Love is addicting. Put the two together, and you've got yourself a drug that would sell well on the black market. Really well. He rolled over until he was on top of me, but supporting all his weight with his arm. I pulled away, gasping for air. I had forgotten to breath. Another one of the essential things you tend to forget when kissing your boyfriend in a bed. "Fang..." I gasped. He leaned his forehead on mine, gently. I could feel his cool breath blowing into my face.

"I love you..." he whispered, his breathing still shallow. After a minute, he rolled off of me and stood up. He leaned down and kissed me on the forehead, this time. "Goodnight." he whispered again.

"Will you tuck me in more often?" I asked jokingly. Well...only half jokingly. He chuckled.

"Goodnight, Max."

"Goodnight. I love you." I whispered after him as the door shut. I rolled over onto my stomache after he was gone and practically smothered myself with my pillow. God...I could ask for no one better than Fang. He was the only person I wanted to be with in the entire universe. I knew we would be together forever. I just knew it. I loved him more than the oxygen I need to breath each day. I don't know what I'd do without him. I love being in love. It's just the greatest thing in the entire world. With delivery pizza coming in at a close second.

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A/N: Well...that chapter is sorta part one of the wedding. I'll be posting part two really soon. A special thanks to all my reviewers. Thank you for sharing your opinions! It really helps me with my writing. So thanks for reading. I hope you guys liked it. Review, please! Can't wait to hear your opinion. Getting part two up as soon as possible, don't worry. See ya next time, folks!


	6. Wedding Bells Part 2

A/N: Hey! I got some really awesome reviews for the last two chapters. Keep 'um coming! I like to know what you guys are thinking. And guess what?! This is the wedding chapter! (Well duh!) Anyways...I guess that's all I have to say. On with the story.

**Disclaimer!: **Yeah...I still don't own Max Ride.

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**Chapter 6: Wedding Bells Part 2 **

**Max's POV **

Only for my mother's wedding would I wake up at 6:00 on a weekend. The day dawned bright and early. Very early. The alarm went off at six and I was so surprised, I tumbled off the bed. The thunk woke me up, though! Looking out the window, I noticed it would be a nice day out today. The sunshine was buttery and the clouds were fluffy like marshmellows, the mist that covered the ground, giving it a slight sheen, was sweet. Okay...I was hungry. And the whole food comparison thing hadn't done much good. I trudged downstairs only to find the kitchen already full. The kids were all crammed around the table loading their plates full of everything in sight. Iggy was at the stove, and Steve was trying to squeeze his way into the crowd around the table. I stretched and sat down in the spot Fang had been saving for me. He put his arm around my waist and kissed my temple. "Morning..." I said, trying to stifle a yawn. I grabbed some bacon and eggs and a piece of toast and dug in. Ella sat with her head on the table, a tired expression on her face. She wasn't a morning person either. "You okay, Ella?" I asked after I had swallowed a huge bite of food. She nodded sleepily and went back to picking at her food. I glanced around the kitchen. "Where's mom?"

"Max...you can't seriously expect your mother to be cooking for you on her wedding day, can you?!" Nudge blurted incredulously. "Besides, it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding, anyways. I think she's upstairs taking a shower." I listened closely for a second. There was indeed the sound of running water lurking in the background behind all the other morning noises.

"Hey....uh...my buddy, Ray, is taking me out today at 6:30. Could one of you guys tell Valencia where I went? I forgot to mention it to her yesterday." said Steve, who was leaning against the counter to eat, as there was no room at the table.

"I can take care of that." Iggy said in his best I'm-a-really-responsible-person voice. "Where are you guys going, anyways?"

"He's taking me out skydiving. It's on my list of things to do before I die, so I thought...why not do it now?" Steve said, tossing his empty plate into the sink.

"Well, I hope you don't plan on dying anytime soon, Steve. You have to get married first." said Nudge. "And...skydiving? You've still gotta get ready for the wedding, Mr." I rolled my eyes. Nudge was unstoppable once she got into her you-better-listen-to-me-or-else mode.

_"Hmmm....I wonder wear she gets it from..." _Angel said sarcastically in my head. I flung some of my eggs at her off my plastic spoon. Bullseye! Right in face! Thankfully, everyone was too preoccupied with Steve's excuses for skydiving to pay any attention to whether the youngest member of the flock was being harrassed by the leader, or not. Haha! Mischief! Suddenly, a car honked right outside the house. Steve rushed to the window in the living room and peeked out.

"That's Ray. Gotta go! Someone remember to tell Val where I went!" he said before dashing out the door.

"Ooh...he is gonna get it if he's late." said Nudge in a venomous tone. Another bite of my eggs, and I was finished. I got up, dumped my plate in the sink and prepared to slip out of the room. "Uh, uh, uh." Nudge said, grabbing my wrist. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Ummm...my room?" I guessed, tugging against her grip.

"Oh no. You're not escaping that easily! All of us girls are going with Dr. M to get facials and stuff." Nudge informed me. I groaned. Just what I needed! My face to be smothered in mud. Oh yeah..that's it. The answer to all of my problems. "Come on, Max. Be a good sport. It's your mom's wedding day! Do it for her?" I sighed. At least she wasn't using the bambi eyes on me. Oh! Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear. Nudge put on her best pouty face and looked me straight in the eyes. The effect had worn off some as she got older, but the bambi eyes always prevailed in the end. Well...there was no turning back now.

"Call me when you're ready to go..." I murmured, finally managing to slip out of her grip. I shook my head as I tramped up the stairs. As I turned the corner, I saw my mom slip out of the bathroom in a large, fluffy, pink robe.

"Hey, sweetheart...excited for the wedding?" she asked when she saw me. I nodded. "I know I am. Oooh...I'm so nervous. It's not exactly everyday that you get married, is it?" She studied me for a second. "Is something wrong? You look kind of...distant." I shook my head.

"No...Nudge just convinced me to go with you guys to that spa place. Can't wait." I said sarcastically.

"Oh, Max, I know you don't like that sort of stuff, but it should be fun. Try to have a good time?" My mother was the epitome of pathetic. How could I say to her face that I wouldn't have a good time.

"Yeah...of course I'll try! And, don't worry...I'm sure I'll like it too." I reassured her. She beamed.

"Well...I'd better go get dressed if we wanna leave here anytime soon." My mom wandered into her room, humming to herself cheerfully. Well...at least _someone_ was happy. I quickly changed into something comfy and dashed downstairs.

"Hey...what are us guys supposed to do while you girls are gone?!" Iggy was saying. "Just sit around and wait for you to get back?" Nudge giggled playfully.

"Uh-uh. You big, masculine guys are gonna be helping the decorators and caterors move stuff around at the hotel." she said, a mocking gleam in her eye.

"What?! While you girls just sit there and get massages and stuff?!" Iggy could go on and on about how 'us girls' never did any work. Once he got started, you better have some headphones or something, 'cause he could go all day.

"Well, Iggy, I'm sure if you really want to get a pedicure with us, Max would be willing to trade." Nudge teased him again.

"I'll take you up on that offer!" I jumped in eagerly. I'd rather be moving furniture and crap all day than get my nails filed for three hours. Iggy brushed it off.

"Whatever...I guess we'll just have to show you girls how strong and muscular we are so you can lay off and actually do some work for a change." He started to walk out of the room. Nudge raised her eyebrows.

"Oh! You wanna go?!" she said, leaping onto his back.

"Ow! Nudge get off of me!" he yelled.

"I will when you admit the girls have been doing all the work around here!" The two of them swayed out of the room, Nudge still latched onto Iggy in an expert chokehold. I sighed and began to count down to zero in my head, waiting for the crash.

_"Five...four...three...two....one_." An ear shattering boom echoed through the house.

"Oooh! You are in_ trouble_." I heard Nudge say tauntingly somewhere off down the hall. The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs was the only noise now.

"Is everyone okay?!" Ella asked as she ran into the room. "I thought I heard a boom from down here."

"You did...Is mom almost ready?" I asked, brushing off the fact that two of my flock members could be hurt.

"Wait...don't you wanna go check on them?" Ella asked, obviously surprised by my lack of concern. I shrugged.

"Naw...they'll be fine...I think. Anyways, is Mom almost finished? I wanna get this over with." Ella stared at me for a minute, but finally decided to just let it go.

"Yeah...she should be down in a minute. I'm gonna head out to the car. Grab the others for me, will ya?" She disappeared out the front door, on her way to the garage. I went and pulled Nudge off of Iggy, and then proceeded to recruit my fellow citizen Angel, over here. Soon all the girls were in the car, paitiently awaiting the arrival of the soon to be bride, my mother, Dr. M. Finally, we saw her rush out the back door, a couple of bags in her arms. She shoved them all in the trunk and then hopped in.

"Alright...sorry I'm late. Everyone all buckled in?" she asked, snapping her own seatbelt into place. We nodded. "Okay then! Off we go." she said, pulling out of the driveway at an alarmingly fast pace. Not that _I_ cared or anything.

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"Max! Hold still!" Ella said for about the thousndth time as I flinched away from the stick of eyeliner she was brandishing in my face. "Come on! I'm...almost...finished." She squinted her eyes, while I concentrated on not fidgeting. "There!" she said finally, pulling back. "You look beautiful, m' dear." We had gotten back from the spa about an hour ago. It actually hadn't been as bad as I thought it would be. Sure...the goo they put on your face was a little uncomfortable, but other than that, it went fairly well. And by fairly well, I mean no one died or sustained serious injuries. Pretty good for me, if I don't say so myself. Ella had spent the last hour doing me up in every kind of makeup imaginable. (It was probably about 11:30 to 11:45, somewhere in there.) She had already done hers and Nudge was doing her own and Angel's so we were all covered. We were currently up in the attic. Everyone was dressed, as far as I knew, so we should be good in that department. Ella led me over to the mirror to show me my new face of sorts. I nodded in appreciation. It actually didn't look half bad.

"Wow...thanks Ella. You look great to." I said, wrapping her in a hug. We laughed a little. This was so weird. My mom was getting married...Holy shit! My mom was getting married...My mom was getting married! It took me a minute to let that thought sink in. I had to take a few deep breaths. I was excited and nervous at the same time. I watched as Ella twisted her hair into a complicated knot. We'd found a good picture in a magazine and decided to use that. Me and the rest of the girls had to leave our hair down, so that no one saw our wings too clearly. We were already taking a huge gamble with the strapless dresses. Any more revealing and we'd be locked up in Area 51 by one of my crazy half reletives in no time.

"You girls almost done yet?! We have to leave soon!" I heard Fang call up the stairs. I looked over at Ella who was making last minute adjustments to various things.

"You go ahead." she told me. "I'll be down in a minute." I nodded and stumbled (I was in heels people!) over to the trap door. I managed to make it down the ladder and plant my feet safely on the ground. I looked over at Fang and smiled. He looked me up and down, and I felt myself blush.

"You look..wow." he stuttered. "I mean...it's just--wow." he said again. I beamed and hugged him, pressing my face into his rock hard chest.

"Thanks..." I whispered. "You don't look half bad yourself. He was in a simple black tuxedo with a blue undershirt and tie. I pushed his hair back and stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek. He turned his face halfway through, so I made contact with his lips instead. I pulled back. "What was that?" I asked sternly, not really caring. He knew that.

"Sorry...I couldn't resist." he whispered before bending down and kissing me again. I ran my fingers through his hair, everything else forgotten. "And to think...Someday...this will be us. Except...you'll be the one wearing the white dress. Not your mother." He dipped his head and we were kissing again.

"Eeew! Get a room, people!" Ella yelled as she exited the attic. We pulled away instantly, but she was grinning. Then she grabbed my hand. "Come on! We're gonna be late!" She yanked me out the door and into the garage. The girls piled into my mom's car and the guys got a ride from my mystery aunt who had apparently showed up a little bit ago. She had a creamy complexion and huge chocolate brown eyes just like mine and my mother's. Her hair was reddish brown and hung down to her waist in a shiny sheet. She was a very beautiful woman. And she'd been living in Texas for a long time, so she had a bit of a southern accent. It was kind of funny, actually. My mom was already at the chapel and so was Steve. They said they had to be there early for some last minute arrangements, or something. So everyone piled into their designated driver's car and it was off to the wedding chapel with us!

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The chapel was an adorable, but slightly ancient looking, little building. It was somewhere where a lot of trees grew. A stone path led up to the double doors of the white washed wood chapel. The roof tile was chipped, but durable looking. Little baskets of flowers hung at random on the outside porch attachment. The inside had a little waiting area. It had no carpet, so my heels clicked on the boards everytime I took a step. Another set of double doors in the back of the "waiting room" led into the actual chapel part where the cermony would be held. A black walkway carpeting led up to the alter and at the end of each pew a bouquet of blue and white flowers was tacked onto it. Practically all the candles were lit and the place smelled of incense. Some of the guests were already there and bustling around. I attached myself to Ella's arm so that we could pull through the crowd gathering by the entrance. My mom was still nowhere in sight. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw the last person I had ever expected to see standing right in front of me. Jeb. He stood tall and proud in a suit and looked firm. I hadn't spoken to him in a long time, but he seemed to have aged well. His hair was starting to grey, though, and he looked a little on the chubby side. "It's nice to see you again, Maximum. It's been awhile hasn't it?" he said, awkwardly extending his hand. I didn't reach to grab it, but nodded stiffly. Ella stood where she was, watching us. He pulled his hand back after a second. "I don't mean to barge in like this, but I really couldn't miss Valencia's wedding. Do you, per chance, know where she is?" he asked quietly.

"I'm right here." My mother's voice came from behind me. I whirrled around, and there she stood, hardly recognizable. Her eyes sparkled with intensity and her cheeks were flushed. From blush or nervousness, I did not know. Her hair was pinned back in shiny curls. And her dress...Oh her beautiful dress! Stunningly white, it pooled around her feet in a graceful fashion. It was basically strapless, except two small sleeves of lace seemed to hold it up. It gripped tight at the bust and flowed loose once it reached her hips. A random array of small clear gems covered the chest area of the dress and a trail of them floated down the side towards the hem, but not reaching it. She pursed her red painted lips, and moved elegantly towards us. I was pretty sure I didn't look like that when I walked in heels. She folded her arms across her chest. "Jeb...you have the nerve to show up at my wedding when I haven't seen, nor spoken to you in years?" she demanded an answer, sounding utterly peeved.

"Valencia...calm down. I simply couldn't miss your wedding. I've been wanting so long to see you happy again. The last time we spoke, you seemed angry. I did not want to remember you like that." Jeb tried to calm her. She didn't back down.

"Do I look happy to you Jeb? You can't just go crashing people's weddings. If they didn't invite you, that's the obvious way to say they don't want you there." Yeah! Go mom! Way to tell him off!

"Val...Please. I don't mean to upset you. I only wanted to say hello and see your happy day. You may not remember, but we were in love once, too." he continued. What a bastard!

"That was not love, Jeb!" my mother nearly shouted. People were starting to stare. She quieted her voice to an angry whisper. " I am in love with Steve! I think it's probably best if you leave." Jeb shook his head.

"I should've known you would react like this. I'm sorry I disturbed you. I'll go now. It was nice seeing you again, Valencia. Max...Ella." he said before beginning to exit. My mother stood still for a moment, then lurched forward, grabbing his arm.

"Jeb, wait!" she half yelled. He turned. "I'm sorry. It's just...you being here would be so awkward, and--" she started, but Jeb cut her off.

"It's okay, Val. I understand." he told her reassuringly. She nodded.

"I'm sorry, but really...I think it would be better if you left." my mom said again. He nodded. "Tell you what...when everything here is settled a bit, I'll give you a call and maybe we can sort this whole argument thing out." Jeb thought for a second.

"That sounds like a plan. It really was nice seeing you again, Val. I wish you the best of luck with your new husband. What was his name again?"

"Steve." my mother provided. Jeb nodded.

"Right. With Steve. I'll see you later than. Bye!" he said, waving to me and Ella and exiting the chapel. My mother wiped her forehead with the back of her hand.

"Well...now that that's over. How do I look?" she asked, attempting a twirl.

"Mom you look wonderful!" me and Ella said in unison. We all laughed. Then we all hugged eachother. A woman I didn't know came up to us.

"We're ready to start whenver you are." she said and then returned back into the chapel. I could see the guests all sitting in their pews, waiting for it to begin. They were all chatting animatedly.

"Are we ready?" my mom asked, looking more nervous than I had ever seen her. Me and Ella nodded slowly. She took a deep breath and walked towards the door. Angel was waiting there along with my 'aunt'. My mom looked so happy! I heard organ music start to play and pews creak from behind the now closed doors. Suddenly, they swung open, revealing the chapel to us. I could see Steve waiting at the alter along with the priest, waiting to begin. I beamed happily. The organ music started, and that was our cue. I latched onto the arm of one of the groomsmen. I think his name was Alex. Nudge was with someone named Phil and Ella was with the best man, Ray. He was the guy that had taken Steve out skydiving. Since my mother's parents had died in a plane crash when she was little, she was being walked down the aisle by her leagal guardian, her uncle. His name was Grant. Me and Alex stepped out into the aisle and made our way towards the alter. On the sides of us, everyone grinned broadly, defintely in good spirits. I caught sight of Fang in one of the pews sitting next to Gazzy and Iggy. He winked at me and I smirked. Me and Alex parted ways at the alter and took our positions. Next, Nudge and and Phil glided down the aisle. She was absolutely glowing with excitement. The two of them parted ways as well and Nudge came to stand beside me. Then, Ella and Ray walked down slowly, before taking their places as well. Angel stepped out, carrying a basket of flowers. She tossed white rose petals into the air and they fluttered down onto the the black carpeting. She finally stopped beside Ella. And then...my mother, latched onto the arm of her Uncle Grant, stepped onto the aisle. She beamed brightly. Her eyes sparkled and she looked flushed, but composed. They made theit long walk to the alter and stopped. The preist cleared his throat.

"Who gives this woman?" he asked in a booming voice.

"I do." Grant answered. He kissed my mother's cheek then released her arm to go sit. My mother floated up the stairs to meet Steve. Both of them were smiling uncontrollably. They stood before the preist now. Again, he cleared his throat.

"We have come together here, in the sight of God and these witnesses, to join this man and this woman in the covenant of marriage." he began. Everyone was absolutely quiet by now. Even the little children were on mute as they watched what was happening. "This covenant is a sacred thing, and is not meant to be taken light-heartedly. Valencia and Steven come together today to make this covenant with one another. Valencia and Steven...I require you...as you stand in the prescence of god...to declare before everyone here today...your pledge of faith to eachother. Would you join right hands?" This wedding business seemed to be taken pretty seriously. Jeese... All these big words and stuff. My mom and Steve took eachother's hands and grinned. "Now...repeat after me." he said. I listened as Steve said these words to my mother:

"I, Steve, take you, Valencia, to be my lawfully wedded wife. To have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward, until death do us part." And then, he slipped the ring on her finger. My mother said basically the same thing back and put the ring on his finger. They gazed into eachother's eyes, and looked so happy, that I couldn't take it. I felt a tear roll down my cheek. I was so happy for her! After all she had been through, she would finally get what she deserved. The priest guy cleared his throat again. (Ahhh! How many times was he going to do that?!)

"I now pronounce you man and wife. You may kiss the the bride." he said. Steve dipped his head and kissed my mom. It was one of the most romantic things I had ever seen, but also kind of gross. (My parents! Kissing! Eeew!) Everyone cheered. And soon, we were all exiting the chaple. People threw Cheerios (don't ask) as my mom and Steve exited the chapel. We had pictures taken outside, which only took us about a gazillion hours, and then started to head back to the cars. Steve's was freshly adorned with decorations. Tin cans stringed to the back, Just Married painted on the back window...the whole nine yards. My mom tossed me the keys and told me she'd meet me at the hotel for the reception. I drove all of us kids to the place and we all jumped out eagerly. I had no idea what time it was, I was just overjooyed. The happy couple was at the door, greeting guests when we entered the room. My mom eagerly ran forward to hug us all when she saw us.

"Oh! I'm so happy for you guys!" I said to her when she hugged me. The others congratulated her, and then we made our way over to the table we were supposed to be at. They were round and covered in blue cloth with a black and white flower center piece. Glasses of water were laid out. Fang was to my right and Gazzy to my left. I sipped water for a little while. Everyone chattered about nothing imparticular. Soon, dinner was served. A buffet was laid out and everyone went to line up. Salads and assortments of dressings, rolls with butter, pasta salad, fried chicken, punch, water, coffee, small dishes of M&M's. I was a happy girl. After loading my plate I went back to the table to stuff my face with the delicious food. Me and Nudge had an interesting conversation about absolutely nothing and then, people started doing toasts. Finally, it was time for the first dance. We all gathered on the dance floor and watched as my mom and Steve started to twirl around to some random song. Me and the rest of the bridal procession partnered up and joined in after awile. After that, my mom danced with Grant, her father figure. Then they did some sort of Anniversary dance where only married people could dance and then sit down...and then...oh, I don't know! It was too confusing! Finally, it was just sort of open dance time. After a couple minutes of relaxing, Fang asked me to dance. I smiled gratefully and followed him out to the dance floor. We Go Together from the movie, Grease, was playing. I laughed a little. This reception had an interesting music selection. I put arms around Fang's neck and he placed his hands on my waist. The song ended and I'm Yours started playing.

"Well you done, done me, you bet I felt it. I tried to be chill, but you're so hot, that I melted. I fell right through the cracks. And now I'm trying to get back." I heard Fang sing quietly along with the lyrics. I laughed a little.

"How do you know this song?" I asked him. It wasn't exactly his type of music.

"I heard it on the radio about three million times. You hear a song that much, and you start to memorize the lyrics." he explained. I smiled and leaned my head on his shoulder. I breathed slowly, trying to take everything in. I felt Fang press his lips against the top of my head and then he went back to murmuring the lyrics. After the song ended, I heard someone say something about the tossing of the bouquet. Fang shoved me a little in that direction and I wandered over. My mother stood on a table, her back to the group of people I now entered. She suddenly threw the bouquet over her head to us. I reached my hands up and felt it glide through the tips of my fingers. It landed in Nudge's hands. She squealed with excitement. Too bad the prediction was wrong. I laughed to myself. Glancing at a clock, I realized that the reception was only about another hour long. Another couple dances with random people, and it was time to cut the cake. The cake was very nice looking. It was four layers high, but smallish. Sort of. All white, with little swirly designs on all the layers in white icing. Black roses made a tight circle around the base of the cake, and a couple were perched ontop. To bad we were going to devour it. Together, my mom and Steve sliced into it. They fed eachother the first bites (Not before shoving some in eachother's faces, of course) and then began serving people. It was actually very good. Chocolate...my favorite. By the time we were finished with cake, everyone started to head home. Soon, the hall was empty, except for us and a few stragglers. We followed the newly weds out to their car. They were taking it to the airport, prepared to start their honeymoon already. It must have been nine or ten at night. They were going out to New Orleans.

"Goodbye!" we shouted, as they began to pull away.

"Have a nice time!" I called out.

"Don't forget to bring us some souvenires!" Angel shouted.

"Be carefull not to get mugged!" Gazzy yelled.

"Viva viagra!" Iggy screamed at the top of his lungs as they pulled out of sight. I smacked him but laughed anyways. When we finally drove my mom's car home, I was so tired I could hardly walk. Angel was even worse. She got a piggy back ride from Fang. I said good night to everyone, especially Fang. (Wink Wink!) And then I truged upstairs and sluggishly changed out of my dress. I flopped down onto my bed and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that I wouldn't have to think about what Mom and Steve were doing right now. *Shudder*

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A/N: Whew! That was a long one. It took me longer to write then I thought it would, so sorry for the delay. I know some things probably weren't as accurate as real life, but I've never been married before, so I don't know all the gory details. My only source was the internet, and we all know even Google is wrong sometimes. Don't argue with me! You know it's true. The only other thing I could think of to do would be to elope to Vegas with some random guy and see what all goes on. I was too lazy to do that, so I settled for Google instead. The next few chapters are gonna be real interesting, so you'll have to wait and see what happens. Review people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	7. Saving CinderELLA

A/N: Hey guys! Yeah...It's me again. Sorry I haven't updated for a little bit. My dad's on the computer ALL THE TIME! So, I haven't had any time to get on here and do what I do best. And that is...either bore you all to tears with my rambling on and on about my outside life, or entertain you all tremendously with my slightly ridiculous (okay...maybe just a _tad_ more than slightly) and all together very FLUFFY fanfiction. So..shall I begin with that, or continue rambling. That's what I thought, too....On with the story!

**Disclaimer!**: I still do not own Maximum Ride. (Obviously or I wouldn't be writing this.)

**WARNING!: This chapter contains some severe language towards the end. Do not read if you do not want to read it. This chapter also has some thematic elements that might frighten the younger children, so please don't read if you are still pure.**

**Chapter 7: Saving CinderELLA**

**Max's POV **

When I woke up the next morning, I was greeted with the delicious smell of bacon and eggs. I wobbled downstairs on shaky legs and managed to plop myself into an empty chair. As unusual as it seems, I was actually the first one up (or downstairs, at least) besides Iggy, who was guarding the stove from weary stragglers like me who just so happen to be hungry enough to eat a horse. Or two....or three. He didn't even turn around when I walked in, but he knew it was me. Jeese. Even I can't do that, and I'm gifted with perfect eyesight. "Morning, Max." he said cheerfully, cracking another egg into a sizzling frying pan. I could see a plate with a mountain of bacon on it sitting right next to him. I reached out to grab a slice, but he caught me in the act and slapped my hand away, quick to rescue his precious bacon. I grumbled but sat down none the less at the empty table. It felt strange being up before the others, 'cause I was usually the one that tried to sleep till noon. The silence was hollow and awkward, only broken by the sound of Iggy humming to himself as he prepared us a feast.

"What's for breakfast?" I asked, trying to see over his shoulder as bent over to take something out of the oven. I was surprised when he pulled out a large, chocolate cake. "Cake? You're letting us have cake for breakfast?!" I questioned him skeptically. He was rather like a mother when it came to cooking. He never let us have sweets or anything like that for breakfast. Sure...he can make explosives and fill bathtubs with dye that turns your skin green, but we can't have cake for breakfast. Hooray! The world makes sense again...

"Shhh!" he hissed at me, putting the cake down carefully on the counter to cool. "It's not for us. It's for Ella's surprise birthday party." he told me matter-of-factly. I had totally forgotten about my gift for Ella. Apparently we were celebrating today. Surprise! Surprise!

"Well, sorry! I guess this must be the surprise party you throw for Max where she finds out that you're actually throwing a surprise party, because I had NO FRICKIN' IDEA!" I whisper shouted back to him. He just rolled his eyes.

"Well, try to keep it down, will ya? I don't want her to find out about it. I want it to be special." He blushed slightly. I gasped.

"Oh! I get what this is all about! You have a CRUSH on Ella, so you want everything to be perfect! Aww! That's so cute!" I teased him gloatingly. He shushed me again.

"I do not! I just--I want her to be happy! That's all!" I rolled my eyes.

"_Sure_, lover boy...whatever you say." I giggled, pleased with the reaction I was getting out of him. "Too bad she already has a boyfriend." I added, resuming my seat. It's so much fun to torture Iggy. I know what you're thinking.

_"You monster! You shouldn't harass the handicapped!" _

But...Iggy doesn't really count. I mean...he can still beat the shit outta me if he really wants to. Not that I'd let him or anything. He grumbled something about injustice and went back to flipping pancakes or whatever it is he enjoys so much. Soon...there were plates heaped with food layed out in front of me. The smell wafting off of them was simply mouthwatering. I reached out to grab an omlette. "We are so close, my love!" I said, faking a dramatic voice, as I reached for it. "Reach out to me, my love! I can almost touch you!" But Iggy's swift hands got to them before I could. He quickly pulled the plate out of my reach.

"We have to wait for everyone to get up. It's the least you could do seeing as you seem to harass us so much." he said, obviously pleased that he could get a little revenge.

"Come on, Ig. Hand over the food. The others might not be up for hours! Come on. Don't make me get all mutant bird kid on your ass." I warned. But he persisted, not letting me touch a single one of his precious (and oh so delicious looking) dishes. I finally gave up and laid my head on the table, trying not to think about how hungry I was. "Where is everyone anyways?" I asked boredly. Iggy shrugged and carefully stowed the cake away in the refridgerator. I thought about sneaking a piece of bacon while his back was turned, but decided against it. Knowing him, he'd probably counted each strip of bacon and would somehow magically be able to tell that I had taken a piece. Finally, I heard the sound of footsteps thumping down the stairs. Probably three or foor pairs of feet thundered down, making a noise like a small stampede running through a savanna might. Soon the kitchen was filled, and I was finally allowed to fill my plate with the delicious wonders Iggy had created. While everyone else was clad in pajamas, I noticed that Ella was fully dressed, her hair combed back into a ponytail. "Where ya going, Ella?" I asked through a mouthfull of eggs. "Cheer practice again?" She noded her head slowly and swallowed her bite before talking. _She_ had some form of table manners, at least.

" Uh...yeah....Cheer practice. We've--um--got a big tournament coming up, so the coach is working us nonstop." she said, glancing down at her watch. "And, actually...I should probably get going. See ya guys later." She dumped her plate in the sink, and rushed out the door. I stared after her for a minute as she climbed into her car and drove off.

"Uh...bye?" I said curiously, wondering what I had missed. Soon, the kitchen began to empty out until it was just me, Total, and Fang. Total had picked at his food this morning, which was unusual for him. I bent down to scratch him between his ears like I knew he liked. He sighed contentedly, but the worried look in his eyes did not disappear.

"What's wrong, Total?" I asked. He shrugged his small shoulders and didn't say anything. "Is everything okay?" I pressed for more information like any good mother figure would do. He was still for a minute before speaking. Fang stood silently by the kitchen sink, washing dishes, but I knew he was listening to our conversation.

"It's just--I miss Akila." he said sadly. I looked at him, knowingly. Akila lived with...she lived with Brigid now. I know, I know. I don't like it much either, but it was the only place I could find. My mom had said that she wouldn't mind, but I didn't want to bother her. So, Nudge, who was a bigger fan of Brigid than I was, had suggested that we leave Akila with her. Akila was getting too old to travel with us, 'cause we moved around a lot. So we decided it would be better for her if we left her in a more permanent home. Total, of course, had been saddened by this news. It had been almost a year since we made that decision, but apparently he was still brooding about it.

"Oh, Total." I said comfortingly. "You can visit her any time you want. I promise...when we're done here, we can go out and stay with...Brigid for a couple of days." I didn't like saying this, but I had to do what made my flock happy. That was all I wanted to do. Be a good mother. Something these kids both needed and deserved. But, to my surprise, Total shook his head.

"No...you don't understand. I--I need to be with her." he stammered out. I was confused.

"You will be with her, Total, I promise. Right after mom and Steve get back. I'd leave now, but they asked us to watch the house for them." Again he shook his head. Fang had stopped washing the dishes and turned to watch our chatter full on.

"No, Max." said Total, an urgent tinge to his voice. "I want to be with her. I want to stay with her."I stared, not getting what he meant. "We can go down there when we're finished here. But...I don't want to come back with you. I want to stay with Akila at Brigid's place."

"Wh--What do you mean?" I thought I knew what he meant, but there must be some sort of misunderstanding.

"Max...When we go down there... I'm going to stay behind after you all leave. I won't come back. I need to be with Akila. She's getting older. I don't know how much longer she has left, and I want to be by her side when she goes. And I can't do that if I'm out flying around with you guys." I was still a little confused.

"Of course you can see her if you fly around with us. We can visit every other week and--" I tried to compromise, but he cut me off.

"But once every other week isn't enough for love." Total pleaded with me. "What would you do if Fang had to live with Bridgid and the only way you could possibly be with him as much as you wanted to would be to stay with him?"

"Well....first I would kick Brigid's butt, and then I would--" He cut me off again. Jeese! Does this dog not have _any_ manners?!

"Max, you're not getting the point. Would you rather see him once every other week or stay with him?" Total asked.

"Well, I'd have to look after the flock, so I--"

"I'm not asking what would be the best decision for you, I'm asking what would you _want_ to do." I thought for a minute.

"I--I guess I'd want to stay with him." I said, looking over at Fang, who's face was emotionless. "But...I couldn't because I'd have to look out for the flock and I couldn't do that if I stayed with Fang, so I'd have to choose to just let him be and see him whenever I could." I said, praying that I never had to make that decision.

"But, _I_ don't have to look after the flock, so I think I'd stay with Akila. Please...Max..I really need to be with her. I love her. It is not right to keep love apart." Total started working the puppy dog eyes on me. I could feel my forehead crease and my head spin with words he was saying that didn't make sense. Didn't sound right.

"Please, Total. It would break Angel's heart." I pleaded with him. He shook his head.

"Angel will move on. She still has alot more life ahead of her. And she can visit whenever she wants. Please...I don't know how much more time I have left with Akila. And I want to spend every second of that time right by her side. You understand what I mean when I say that I simply can't live without her, don't you?" I was quiet for a long time before I nodded slowly. I still couldn't really understand, but I was trying to. Total and I were quiet, and Fang still hadn't said anything. He was rooted in place by the sink, listening closely. I didn't know what he was thinking.

"I--I suppose we could figure out some way to make that work. I'd have to--talk with Brigid about that, and you should probably--run that--that idea by Angel. See what she says." I finally stammered out. I saw Total smile sympathetically under his fur.

"Do not mourn over my abscence too long, Maximum Ride. Like you said yourself...you can come visit every other week." He grinned broadly, falshing his sharp teeth. I gave a weak smile in return, and he wandered out of the room. I stayed kneeling in the place where I had been before. Total was leaving. That didn't sound right to say. He was part of the family. Not a pet, but an actual member. I couldn't imagine what it was going to be like without him. That thought had never once crossed my mind in all the years that he had traveled with us. It was more odd than ever, now, when I thought everything was coming together in front of me. That my family was complete and happy. I felt Fang kneel down next to me and place his hands on my shoulders.

"Max?" he asked me gently. "Are you okay?" I nodded briefly. Fang stood up and extended a hand to help me up. I took it greatfully. When I was on my feet, Fang pulled me into a giant bear hug. I burried my head in his chest and clung to him for just a minute. I could feel his warm breath ontop of my head where his chin rested comfortably. "It'll be alright." he muttered to reassure me. I nodded into him and mumbled,

"I know...It was just so sudden and--I can't really wrap my mind around what's going on. It's just--different." I struggled to explain, wondering if he could even hear me, as I was talking into his hard chest. He seemed to get the message though because, when he spoke, his words were understanding.

"I know...but we'll figure something out. We always do." he squeezed me tightly once more, before releasing me, and taking hold of my hand instead. "So..did ya have a good time at the wedding last night? I know I did." He kissed my forehead gently. Fang always knew what to say to distract me from whatever was bothering me. For that, I was forever greatful.

"Yeah...it was nice. I liked it alot. I'm happy for my mom. She finally gets what she deserves. I liked dancing with you, by the way." I tacked the last part on there truthfully to show how happy I was to have him. He smirked.

"I agree. We should do stuff like that more often. I especially liked seeing you in that little dress of yours." he muttered, placing his forehead on mine. "Any chance you could try it on again for me later tonight? I could help you with the zipper if you can't get it." He smirked again, his voice taking on a sugggestive tone. I punched his arm playfully.

"Don't be a pervert." I told him, grinning as well. "And I highly doubt I'll be trying that dress on any time soon, so don't hold your breath."

"That's a shame. Because I thought you looked...well...sexy in that dress." He pecked my lips. I grinned even more widely.

"Is that so? I didn't think you looked half bad in that suit either." I pecked him on the lips.

"And you look almost as sexy with your regular clothes on." he murmered into my lips. "And probably even sexier in what you're wearing underneath." I could feel his hand at the bottom of my shirt. I continued to kiss him, trying not to worry about where this could lead. Than I heard someone clear their throat. I pulled away. Iggy was standing in the doorway.

"I don't mean to interrupt anything, but I need to ask you a favor, Max." he said, getting straight down to business. I cleared my throat and stepped away from Fang, who looked disappointed that Iggy had interrupted. "Max...I need you to take Ella out." Iggy said.

"What do you mean? She's already 'out' at cheer practice." I said, confused.

"No...I need you to take her out when she gets back so that we can set up the surprise party." he said, slightly inpatient with my slow working brain. But it was early in the morning, so I wasn't sure what exactly he was expecting.

"Um...I guess so. What do you want me to do with her?" I asked, trying to think of something, myself.

"I don't know...just--whatever girls do when they go out together. Ya know...shop or something." I rolled my eyes.

"That's not _all_ girls ever do, as you seem to be convinced. We like to do the same things 'you guys' like to do. Like...roller skating and sports and stuff." I told him, sternly.

"Yeah...but guys don't get mani pedis. EVER! So...I think you might be a bit confused." I flipped him off. His sexist side was a pain in the ass. "Whatever...I don't care what you do. Just as long as you keep her out of the house until 3:00 and have her back by then. What you do in between the time she gets back and the time you return, is really not my concern. So...do whatever you want. Just as long as it's not here." A buzzer went off, and Iggy hurried over to the oven, producing yet another cake out of the sweltering oven. This one was vanilla. "You can never have too many cakes." Iggy muttered to himself. I shrugged and exited the room, Fang close behind me. He wrapped his arms around me and whispered into my ear,

"We'll finish what we started later tonight." And then he walked to the basement door, winked, and disappeared. Yeah...I don't think so, lover boy. I hurried upstairs and grabbed another one of Fang's cd's. I picked with my eyes closed so that it would be a surprise. It turned out to be a Bullet for My Valentine album. I popped it into my cd player and turned up the volume, switching it to "Poison". That was my favorite song by them. The guitar in this one was amazing. I took out a notebook and pen and started to doodle whatever came to mind, ready to wait for Ella to return so that I could take her to...well wherever it was I was going to take her. I hadn't really decided where yet. But I knew that if I thought about it long enough, something would pop into my head.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Well...my theory about that if you think about something long enough, an idea will come to you, turned out to about as effective as a match underwater. I still didn't have the slightest notion as to where I was going to take Ella. In fact, it had kind of slipped my mind until I heard the garage door rumble open. I turned off my cd player and rushed downstairs, hoping Iggy had been smart enough to hide the cakes. It turns out that he's not _all_ stupid, because they were nowhere in sight when I reached the kitchen. I heard the front door open and shut and a pair of feet thud up the stairs. I quickly followed suite and when I came to the top, I saw a little bit of Ella's hair whip around a corner before I heard a door shut. Ella had retreated to the bathroom. I pounded on the door.

"Ella?! You alright?! You ran up hear awful fast!"I shouted through the closed door.

"Yeah...I'm fine. I just had to go really bad. Sorry." she apologized.

"It's alright. Listen. I was wondering if maybe you would like to do something with me today." I said. There was a moment of silence.

"When?" I heard her ask.

"Well...probably when you're finished in there. But we can wait a couple minutes if you have to do something." Again, there was a short period where no one said anything.

"What are we going to do?" I thought for a minute.

"Well...Maybe we could--um..." I still couldn't think of anything to do. "We could--go...shopping." I finally said. Oh! Iggy would never let me live this one down. Not in a million years! But...it was the only thing I could think of that didn't involve us traveling a thousand miles to get there. The nearest mall was only about fifteen minutes away in a car.

"That...sounds alright." she said slowly.

"We could do something else if you had anything in mind." I suggested.

"No...I can't think of anything else. That would be fine. Just give me a minute. I'll be right down." I nodded and made for the stairs. At the bottom, I could hear her fumbling around in the bathroom. Probably makeup or something. Soon...she came down the stairs, looking quite tired, but other than that, in mint condition. I called to Iggy that we were going out(conveniently forgetting to mention where) so that he would know he could start decorating and crap.

"Ready to go?" I asked, pulling on my sneakers. She nodded and soon both of us had climbed into her car and were off to the mall.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

The mall parking lot was packed (It was a friday), but we manged to find a spot close enough so that it only took us a few minutes to get inside. It was crowded and bustling, but I tried to manage. My claustrophobia had gotten alot better over the years, but I was still a little weary about places like this. We found ourselves standing in front the directory, our eyes taking in the millions of stores scattered about on the map. "So...where do you wanna start?" I asked, not really sure where she liked to buy her stuff. She shrugged.

"Um...how about...Holister?" she suggested. I think I'd heard of that place, but I'd never actually been in one. I nodded in agreement and soon we were browsing through the aisles of stuff they had at Holister. I watched as she picked out a few things and ran into the dressing rooms. I grabbed a couple things and soon we were modeling the clothes for eachother and laughing. I was surprised that I was having such a good time. We bought the stuff we wanted and then went over to Aeropostale and did the same thing. Now we were sitting on a bench, splitting some french fries we had bought in the food court. I glanced at my watch. It was almost 2:00 so we had about another hour to do whatever. I glanced into Ella's bag and noticed that it was practically all longsleeves and jeans.

"Don't you want some shorts and tshirts and stuff Ella? It's summer time. We could head over to Pac Sun if you wanted." I suggested.

"No!" she practically yelled. I looked at her, surprised. "I mean...no thanks." she said, lowering her voice. "I've got a bunch of summer stuff already, and hardly any winter stuff. I figure I might as well stock up." I looked at her skeptically.

"Okay...." I said slowly, wondering why she had freaked out. "Umm....what do you want to do next?" She thought for a minute.

"Why don't we just walk around for a little bit and see if anything catches our eye." she suggested. I agreed, and we tossed the fries, beginning to wander around, looking for anything that sounded interesting. We stopped in a music store for a minute, each purchasing one or two items off the sale wrack. Then we headed over to a Deb's, but came out empty handed. Finally, we were just about ready to head back when Ella stopped in her tracks.

"What?" I asked her, glancing around to see what she was looking at. My gaze finally fell upon the store she was staring at. "Oh no! Uh uh! Not going in there." I told her stubbornly.

"Aww, Max. I really need some new underwear and stuff. Come on." She had been looking at Victoria's Secret, of course. I had no intention of going in there. "It's only a store." she pleaded.

"And hell is only a sauna." I said sarcastically.

"Please, Max? It would really mean alot to me if we could just go in there for a couple of minutes. It's the only thing I really need. Please?" she pouted. Ugh! She had been spending _way_ too much time with Nudge. I finally gave in and soon I was sitting on a bench outside of her dressing room as she tried on bras and underwear and all that jazz. I sat patiently for about ten minutes, before I knew I couldn't stay much longer.

"Ella! Are you almost finished?!" I called pushing open the door she had accidentally forgotten to lock. She caught it though, before I could get it very far open and all I could see was her head.

"Don't come in!" she said urgently, trying to force the door back. Hmmm....deja vu, anyone?

"Ella? Are you okay?" I asked, not letting her shut the door.

"Yeah...I'm fine, just...I'm naked. So...you have to wait out there. She pointed briefly to the bench. I finally backed off and let the door shut. Jeesh. She must be PMSing or something. I sat quietly down on the bench, trying not to wonder what was really going on and why I didn't believe her story. Suddenly, I heard a voice call from behind the closed dressing room door. "Max?! Can you get another one of these in C cup?!" Ella asked, flinging the brea over the top of the door. I picked it up gingerly and told her I'd be right back. I finally found a match after about ten minutes of searching and headed back to the rooms. The door must have been broken because it had cracked slightly open. I don't think it could lock. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to come in, so I tried another approach.

"Ella? I got the bra for you? It's right here. Can I come in?" I asked quietly. There was no answer. "Ella?" I tried again, a little louder. Only silence came in response to my question. I pushed the door open a little and peeked in. I gasped. Ella was there alright. She had her ipod in, so that explains why she couldn't hear me. She only had her jeans and a bra on, but that wasn't why I gasped. She was bending over a pile of lingerie and hadn't noticed me come in. Clearly visible on her back was a large purple and blue bruise. Other smaller ones were scattered around on her back as well. Another large one on her elbow and a couple more medium sized ones peppered her arms, and on one of her shoulders a bite mark showed, red and painful looking. My keen eyesight allowed me to take this in very quickly and before she turned around, I ducked out of the room, not sure how to handle this. What had happened to her? Was cheer practice really that brutal? I highly doubted it. She had been perfectly bruise free the day of the wedding, and she'd been with me the whole time today except for cheer. How could she have possibly sustained that many bruises in such a short amount of time? Had she been mugged on the way home? Not likely. She had been in her car. I breathed heavily in and out. I had no idea what to do. Should I confront her, or would she get all defensive and yell? I didn't want to make a scene. Besides...she needed to be in a good mood for the party. I didn't want to ruin it for anyone. I decided to confront her about it after the party was over. I knew I was just stalling so that I didn't have to have another shocking discovery today, but I tried to convince myself otherwise.

"Max? Are you out there?" she called from the room.

"Y--Yes!" I called weakly back. I tossed the bra into the room and sank down on the bench, weak-kneed.

"Um...thanks?" I heard Ella call. It had been kinda weird to just chuck it in there, but my head was spinning with too many thoughts to really care. After another couple minutes, she emerged, fully clothed, from the dressing room. We purchased her stuff, grabbed the rest of our bags and headed back to the car. Apparently, I was being unusually quiet during the drive home, 'cause Ella aksed me if I was okay about five times. I told her yes each time, like any good sister would. Finally, we pulled into the garage. The windows were dark and the door was conveniently unlocked. I pushed it open and stepped inside, all the hype for the party gone. "Where is everyone?" asked Ella, stepping inside and kicking her shoes off. I shrugged. Suddenly, the lights flicked on and people jumped out from behind furniture and stuff in the living room.

"Surprise!" shouted the flock. I turned around to see Ella, a shocked expression on her face. Everyone came at her at once, wrapping her in hugs and wishing her a happy birthday. A little belated, but happy none the less. Well...for her at least. She looked on the verge of tears. The next hour or so passed in a blur. There were hugs, cake, presents, and more hugs. None of which I really registered. Iggy and Company had decorated the living room with lots of different party stuff. Multicolored streamers, balloons, confetti. The cake was really good as well. He had frosted it to say 'Happy Birthday Ella!'. I meant to tell him that he had done a good job, but it kept slipping my mind. Finally, things started to calm down and everyone was sitting in a circle around the floor, opening gifts and stuff. Nudge had gotten friendship bracelets for the both of them. Nudge's was purple with a little quitar charm that had the letter 'E' on it. Ella's had a wing charm with the letter 'N' on it. Angel had gotten her the Twilight series for her to read. (Everyone seems to love that book, including Ella. I've never read them.) Fang had gotten her some giftcards to practically all the stores we'd just vistied today. Iggy and Gazzy had pooled their money together to buy her a bunch of her favorite movies on DVD, and Total had made her a little homemade card with a ten dollar bill in it that he'd found under the sofa. Ella squealed with delight when she saw the concert tickets I had gotten her, and she hugged all of us. I could feel her cringe when I gave her one so I pulled back, remembering vividly, the many bruises all over her.

"I have to go get something upstairs." I muttered. I had to clear my head of that awful image. I went into my room and sat down on the bed, breathing deeply. The door cracked open and Ella padded in to sit on the bed with me. We were quiet for a little while. Finally, she spoke.

"You saw them didn't you?" she asked knowingly. I nodded sadly. She sighed. "That's what I thought. I didn't mean for you to see them because I didn't want you to worry." I turned to face her.

"Ella...what happened to you?" I asked, trying not to show how my voice shook. "It's very important that you tell me exactly what happened. Who did this to you? Did you know them?" I questioned, trying to get some information so that maybe we could track down who it was. But there was only silence. "Ella--" I began again, but she cut me off.

"Yeah, I knew them." she whispered. I sighed.

"Well...who was it?" I asked with urgency ringing in every syllable. She didn't answer. "Ella! You have to tell me who it was! It's my job to protect you." She sighed.

"I--It--It was...It was Brian." she stammered out with much difficulty. I stared at her, confused. A lot of confusing things seemed to be happening today.

"Who's Brian?" I asked.

"He--He's my boyfriend." she whispered. Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. I was speechless. What kind of horrible person was he? Who did he think he was?! Beating up my little sister! What an asshole! I watched, horrified, as tears stained her cheeks and dripped onto the sheets.

"What did he do to you?" I gasped, nearly speechless with astonishment.

"It's only--He just...gets angry with me sometimes, and..." she trailed off in her explanation.

"How long has this been happening?" I asked, hatred for this bastard that was hurting her, pulsing through my veins. I could hear the others laughing in the basement. There was probably some sort of comedy show on, but I didn't care.

"It's only since I came home that last time with the red mark on my cheek. He--he makes me come over after cheer and stuff, so... He said if I didn't or if I told anyone...he would hurt mom." More tears leaked out from her eyes.

"Ella!" I said suddenly, filled with hatred. "You have to stand up to him! With me here, there's no way he can hurt mom! And she's gone, anyways!"

"I know...I just...I didn't know what to do, and...he always promises never to do it again. And he--he says he loves me. I loved him, Max! I love him, because he loves me, and he's a monster!" she cried.

"Ella...if he beats the shit out of you every time he gets angry, he obviously doesn't give a damn about you, much less, love you!" I cried. "That's not love! Just because he says so, doesn't mean it's true! Love is...kind, and gentle...and...it makes you feel good. It shouldn't make you cry and hurt. He is a bastard, and a liar, and what he's doing is illegal!" There was an awkward quiet between us.

"I know..." she whispered. "I know..." I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to me.

"Then why did you let him do this?" I asked gently.

"Because I just wanted someone to say I love you..." She cried quietly into my shoulder.

"_I_ love you." I told her. "And mom loves you, and Steve, and all your friends, and the flock. We all love you Ella. Because you're pretty and smart and just plain old loveable." I felt her smile softly and laugh a little. "And you deserve the very best. And Brian...is defintely not the very best." I grabbed a tissue and handed it to her. She wiped away her tears. A few bruises on her face became visible as she wiped, probably taking off the makeup she had used to cover them. I hugged her tightly again. "He will never hurt you again." I promised. We sat there for a little bit, enjoying the quiet safeness. Then, I heard the doorbell ring. I released her and peeked out the window. A tall boy with dark brown hair and angular feautures was standing on the doorstep. He looked angry and impatient. Ella peeked as well. She gasped.

"That's him." she whispered, shocked. "I was supposed to come back to his place at 2:00. I forgot! He's going to be so mad at me!" I tensed with hatred at the sight of him. I wanted to rip him to pieces bit by bit, I was so mad. I gritted my teeth.

"Want me to go beat him up?" I asked, more than willing to comply. I was shocked when she shook her head.

"I--I want to yell at him..." Ella said, sounding surprised with herself.

"Then yell at him." I told her.

"I want to scream at him and tell him what a jerk he is." she said, her voice gaining confidence. "I want to punch every inch of his stupid body because he hurt me! I--I want him to die." She sounded shocked about the last part.

"He deserves to die." I told her. "And you deserve to yell at him all you want, and punch him and hurt him. Because he hurt you."

"Yeah...I do. I'm gonna go down there and I'm gonna scream at him and hit him and everything he's ever done to me. He's gonna wish he had never hurt me! Ever!" She swung out of the room. I followed closely behind in case things got messy. I sat down in a chair as she swung the door open. I could feel waves of anger rolling off of her and I was proud. As soon as the door opened, I saw him pull her out. The door shut behind them.

"I told you to come over to my house at 2:00! It's almost 5:00! I give you my love and respect and this is what I get in return? You're a bitch, you know that right? Have I ever told you that." I heard his angry voice say.

"Every single day, Brian! Every day you tell me that! And I'm sick of it! We are finished!" I heard Ella yell back, her voice sounding only slightly afraid.

"Are you breaking up with me?!" I heard Brian yell. "I don't think so! I'm not finished with you!" I ran to the window and peeked out. "You are going to come to my house tomorrow at noon! And you're going to tell me you love me, because I love you and that's the least I deserve!" He turned on his heels and started to walk away towards his car. Ella was quiet.

"Come on, Ella..." I muttered anxiously under my breath. He was almost to his car.

"No!" she yelled suddenly. He turned around.

"What did you just say to me?!" he asked.

"I--I said no! I won't come to your house tomorrow and I will never see you again because we are done. I want you to leave and never come back!" Ella yelled. Brian was quiet for a minute, and then he smiled.

"Oh? And why exactly is that?" he asked in a mocking voice.

"Because--Because you're a bastard that's why! And I hate you!" Ella looked surprised with herself as she said this. Brian frowned and started walking up the the steps.

"Don't you ever talk to me that way, you little undeserving whore!" he yelled before slapping her right across the face. I lunged for the door, swinging it open. He looked up in surprise and I jumped onto his back.

"Don't touch her!" I yelled into his ear while he tried to swing me off.

"Ugh! Get off me!" he yelled, still swinging around. I held on tight though. Suddenly, I heard Angel in my head.

_"Max? What's going on? Are you okay? Where are you?"_ she asked, sounding scared. The abrupt entrance of her thoughts had distracted me and I loosened my grip. This allowed Brian to fling me off of his back. I landed with crack onto the cement of the steps and tumbled down them. A sharp pain shot up my arm. The fall off of the porch is a little ways down, since the house is higher up from the ground. I was about to crawl to my feet when I saw something that surprised me tremendously. Ella, almost in tears, spun Brian around. She punched him in the eye.

"That's for my sister!" she screamed. She punched him again, this time in the nose. "That's for me! And this is just because you're a bastard!" And then she grabbed him by both shoulders and shoved him backwards over the porch railing. I watched him fall. He hit the ground painfully and scrambled to his feet.

"Jeese, Ella! I'm never coming anywhere near you again you nasty little bitch! You're too violent. Jesus!" And then he ran for his car.

"Chicken!" I called after him as he pulled away. I saw Angel push open the door followed by the rest of the flock. Thank God she hadn't been there when we were using all that language!

"What happened?" she asked, confused. The others murmured something along the same lines. Ella sat down shakily on the steps.

"You did a good job, Ella." I told her. "You really showed him. Don't ever let anybody mess with you like that." She smiled at me weakly. Fang was standing, extremely confused, in the doorway. I walked over and hugged him. "I'm so lucky to have you." I whispered.

"I--same here." he said, still confused.

"I'll explain later." I told him, just wanting to relax. He shrugged. I rounded up the kids and convinced them that nothing had really happened that was worth their attention. Iggy had sunk down next to Ella on the steps. "You guys coming in?" I asked them. Iggy turned around.

"Nah...I think we'll just stay out here for a little while." he said. I nodded and wandered back into the house. Peeking out the window at them, I saw Iggy pull Ella into a big hug. Sigh. Everything was okay now. I could relax. For a little while at least. I plopped into an arm chair, tipped my head back and smiled. I was reliving the part where Brian had fallen off the porch. Hey...it's not everyday you get to watch your baby sister beat the shit out of her boyfriend. The only thing missing from that moment was a little popcorn and maybe I video camera so I could watch that idiot get his butt kicked over, and over, and over again....

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A/N:Holy crap! Longest chapter ever! Tell me your thoughts. I know the language was really harsh, but I wanted to express there firery hatred for that guy. Haha! What a dork! Anyways...review! Love you guys!


	8. Helping Others: Author's Note!

A/N: Hi there...todays topic? Helping others! In particular...Me! Now...here's what I want you all to do. Send me crazy ideas (as funny as you can think of) of stuff Max could do by herself while the other's are out of the house! It could be like...become a lion tamer, or...a con artist. Now that would be interesting. She can leave the house if that's what your idea includes, but make it something that she could be back like...ya know...not in ten million years. This will be a funny chapter! Right before everything gets all depressed and sad. So...send um in, my lovely reviewers! Did I ever tell you how much I love you? Well, I do. So send in your ideas/suggestions. Or else...


	9. Someone's in the Kitchen With Max

A/N: Oooh...another long break in my updating pattern. Shit! Sorry guys. I've been super busy. We're totally redoing my room, and I have volleyball practice, and I just got braces! Talk about hectic! Anyways...I'm sure you guys didn't come here to read about some random person's life...I'm betting you came to read some Max Ride fanfic! Am I right?! ......... Man, I'm good! (JK. On with the story!)

**Disclaimer!: **I don't own Maximum freakin' Ride! I own this plot though, so suck on that!

**Attention! Attention!:** Hear ye! Hear ye! I have an announcement to make! I just wanted to give credit to snow-hawk-666, who gave me the inspiration to write this chapter. She was one of the few who responded to my desperate cry for help for this chapter. Thanks to the other reviewers who submitted ideas.

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**Chapter 8: Someone's in the Kitchen With Max...**

**Max POV **

"Hahaha! Score! I win!" I yelled gleefully, plucking all the cherries off of my tree and placing them in my bucket. It was about 1:00 a.m. and me and Fang were playing a game of Hi Ho Cherrio. Now...I may suck some major giraffe abortions at most board games, but I kick some serious ass at Hi Ho Cherrio. Fang shook his head mockingly and said in a stern voice,

"I think all this victory is going to your head, Miss Ride. It's about time you lose anyways." He swept the board off the table and replaced it with a checker board.

"Hey no fair! Checkers is your best game! Besides, you know you're going to beat me. I suck at checkers." I pouted.

"Precisely why I've chosen it." Fang said smoothly, laying out his pieces. I groaned under my breath, but went to laying out my peices on the board as well.

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Three meciless games of checkers later, I was slightly more than frustrated about not being able to beat Fang, and ready to go to bed. I huffed, irritated, and began to stuff the game back into it's box. "Aww, Max. Don't be a bad sport." said Fang, trying to surpress his laughter. I finished putting everything away in the cupboard and was about to head off to bed when he grabbed me around the waist. "Don't be mad at me." he whispered in my ear. "I was just worried that your ego was getting a little too big, that's all." Okay...Fang sucked at apologizing. I just sighed.

"I'm not mad. Tired is more like it. I'm sorry. I don't mean to take it out on you." I whispered back, leaning my head backwards into his chest. I could feel him smirking. Just the way his muscles tensed slightly and the room all but filled itself with sunshine at his rarely sighted grin.

"I could...make it up to you..." Fang whispered. "Help you feel a little less tired...more relaxed..." He kissed the back of my neck lightly, making me shiver. He placed another feather-light kiss on my temple and then began to rub my shoulders. I swatted it off.

"Nah...I think I'll just head off to bed." I told him, pulling away. I blew him a kiss, winked, and ran up the stairs, leaving him looking rather irritated with me. I laughed a little and decided to check on the kids before I went to bed. That was a sort of habit I had developed over the years. I wanted to make sure everyone was safe before I dozed off. Iggy and Gazzy were sound asleep, snoring loudly. I ran across the hall and peeked into Ella's room. She was still up, rearranging some stuff under her bed. We bade eachother goodnight and then I hurried downstairs to check on Nudge and Angel. Angel was curled up in the middle of her bed. I threw another blanket over her and turned to Nudge's bed. It was empty. The covers were all crinkled and there was a small card board box sitting on top of it. Out of curiosity, I poked my head into the box. A brown paper bag was the first thing I spotted. Inside of it was a large stack of money! A couple twenties, a few tens and a fifty were all packed in there. Now...I knew Nudge was making money off of her job back in Renton, but I never knew she had so much! A pile of random magazines were stacked in the corner. Most of them on designs and fashion. A few of them had spots where someone had obviously clipped something out. And a few footnotes could be found here and there, oposite pictures with complicated designs on them. Certain pages in each magazine had been bookmarked with paperclips. A sewing machine Nudge must've bought a little while ago was tucked away in the oposite corner, and a pile of various clothes pieces were stacked in the middle. I was poking through these when I heard the door creak open.

"Max? What are you doing in my stuff?" Nudge had come back from wherever she had been before (probably in the basement or something) and was now staring at me with a deer in headlights look. I put the shirts back where they were before.

"Sorry, Nudge. I guess I got carried away. I was just wondering why you had a large box on your bed." I told her pointedly. Her brows furrowed together.

"It's just...ya know...stuff I've been playing around with in my spare time." she said, hurrying over to put the box underneath her bed. I quirked an eyebrow at her.

"You've been 'playing around' with a stack of money?" I questioned skeptically.

"Well...I--I had to use that to buy...some stuff I might need." she said slowly, carefully choosing her words.

"Stuff you might need for what?" She looked stumped for a minute, but opened her mouth eventually. She was about to respond, when a small voice piped up off to my left.

"What's going on?" Angel had woken up and was now staring at us groggily, her words slurred with sleep. I walked over to her side.

"Nothing, Angel. Go back to sleep, hon." I whispered. She squinted at me for a bit longer before flopping back onto the pillow and resuming her quiet snores.

"Well...I'd better get to sleep." said Nudge hurriedly, practically pushing me out of the room. When she'd finally jammed the door shut, despite my protests, I stood in the hall, severely confused, for a minute before shrugging it off and heading upstairs. I changed into my pajamas, not even bothering to look at the clock. I was afraid of what time it was. Then I flopped onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what was up with Nudge, before drifting off a few minutes later.

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The first thing I did the next morning when I woke up, was sniffed the air. But instead of the delicious smell of Iggy's cooking wafting in...there was nothing. Just the normal 'house smell'. I frowned. Making my way downstairs to the kitchen, I found the house to be completely still and silent. It made me edgy. The kitchen was deserted. The clock read 11:00 a.m. on the dot. The others should've defintely been up by now. I exited the ghost-kitchen and poked my head into Nudge and Angel's room. Empty. The basement was quiet as the grave as well. Defeated, and rather confused, I wandered back into the kitchen and sank down into a chair. I thought for a minute. Then I got a bowl, a box of Life from the cupboard, and some milk, then set out to make myself a bowl of cereal...All by myself! I'm no cook, but I think I can manage something as preschool as making myself a bowl of cereal. I opened the bag and made to pour myself some Life into the bowl, but ended up dumping most of it on the floor anyways. Well...maybe just a coke and a granola bar will do. Tossing cereal into the garbage, I came across a small note taped to the counter. It was in Nudge's neat scrawl.

_Dear Max, _

_Everyone went out 2 run errands and stuff. The guys went out just around town 2 hang out and do so called 'guy stuff'. Me and Angel had 2 run 2 the mall to pick up a few things, and Ella's at cheer practice. If you need 2 reach me, u know my cell number. And we figured u probably wouldn't be able 2 tell the toaster from the refridgerator, so Iggy left u a plate of eggs on the counter. Just put um in the microwave. U know...that square thing with all the buttons in it? LOL. See ya when we get back. _

_P.S. I wanna talk 2 you later. I have something important 2 tell u. _

_Luv, Nudge _

I frowned. I wondered what she wanted to talk to me about. And that crack about my cooking skills was totally unnecessary. Unnecessary, but funny, I have to admit. I crumpled the note and tossed in the garbage with the crumbling remains of my cereal, and popped the eggs into the microwave. Iggy's eggs to the rescue! After cramming on eggs, I played checkers with myself for an hour trying to improve my technique, watched a t.v. special on how to train yourself to be a ninja, made three card towers (after which I played 52 card pickup) and then settled on t.v. Finally, after flipping through ten different channels of nothing but infomercials, I clicked it off. I sighed dramatically. I had absolutely nothing to do, and apparently all day to do it. I glanced at the clock. It was only 1:47. I sat thinking for a while. More tv? I don't think so. I didn't feel like going out. I wasn't hungry. (Not that I'd be able to make anything anyways.) Desperate, I finally turned to the only thing I could possibly think of. I dashed upstairs, grabbed the cd player and a random cd from Fang's room, before hurrying back downstairs and plugging it in. I finally got a look at the cd. Michael Jackson. I know what you're thinking. What's Fang doing with a Michael Jackson cd. Well...that's a long story. It all started on an Easter morning. We were all sitting around the table, just minding our own business .........................................................................................................................................................

_**Max rambles on for a good half hour. Trust me...the whole story would have bored you all to tears** _

But anyways...that's how he ended up with a Michael Jackson cd. Putting that crazy story aside, let's get back to reality, shall we? I shrugged off my odd music choice and popped the cd in, turning it up to full volume, and switching it to 'Thriller'. I figure...what the heck? No one's here. I'm all alone. Why not jam out and dance crazily? And that's exactly what I did. After a few warm up moves, I was starting to get into it. I'd seen the music video for this song on the internet not too long ago, and my memory's pretty good, so I could remember most of the moves. The whole thing was pretty sweet. Before I knew it, I was singing along with the lyrics and doing crazy moves on top of the coffee table. Jumping off of couches, using a discarded water bottle as a microphone...the whole nine yards. "Cause this is thriller! Thriller night!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, doing a wild jump off the arm of the couch, and sticking the landing. "You're fighting for your life inside a killer..thriller...tonight!" I twirled around and did the moon walk towards the stairs.

"So _that's _girls do when no one's around..." said an awed voice from behind me. I screamed and jumped around, only to find Total staring at me on the bottom step. I groaned, and turned off the music.

"You didn't see any of that." I told him sternly. He chuckled under his breath.

"Sure I didn't." he muttered sarcastically, wandering into the the kitchen. I had completely forgotten about Total until just then.

"Where have you been this whole time?" I asked, following him into the kitchen. He shrugged, looking around for something to eat.

"I've been up in your mom's room. She's got this massage chair that vibrates and..." he trailed off, a glazed look coming over his eyes. "I didn't know you were up until I heard the music. I came down to see what was going on and I found....well...it was certainly thriller worthy, that's for sure." He fake shuddered.

"Haha..." I said driely, plopping down into a kitchen chair, secretly glad to have a little company. "Well...you'd be wise not to mention that to anyone else, or I'm sure you'll find it certainly will be a 'thriller night'. For you, anyways..." I threatened. Again, Total just shrugged it off. Just then, the phone rang loudly, interrupting our little argument. I jumped up and grabbed it from the hook, eager to hear an actual human's voice. "Hello?" I said, sounding a bit excited just to be answering the phone.

"Max?" It was Ella on the other line. "It's Ella." she said.

"Yeah...What's up?" I could hear background noise on the other end. Loud voices and a whistle...some cheers. She must be at cheer practice.

"Listen...can you do me a favor?" she asked, sounding like she was in a hurry.

"That depends on what it is." I said slowly.

"All right...some of the girls from cheer and some guys from the football team are coming over after practice, and I was wondering if you could make us some lunch? We're all starving, and I told everyone that I would have snacks back at my house, but I forgot that Iggy was out and...Now I need your help." Ella obviously was not informed about what a disaster I was in the kitchen.

"Oh, I don't know Ella...I'm not very good at that kind of thing--" I started, but she interrupted.

"Please? Pretty please with cherries, and nuts, and sprinkles and every other ice cream topping ever invented, on top...I REALLY need some help on this one. And besides...Justin's coming over and...I think he might like me, and..." she trailed off. Of course...if there was a boy involved, she would defintely pressure me into this somehow. The best thing to do in this situation, would be to just give in. I sighed loudly. I felt like being dramatic today. "Oh, please?! It would only have to be like...cheeseburgers or microwave hotdogs, or something." she begged.

"Fine..." I said reluctantly. She had no clue what a disaster this could, and probably would, turn out to be. She squealed with excitement.

"Oh! Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea what a big help this will be!" she said, sounding relieved. I rolled my eyes. "Okay...practice is done in about 45 minutes and it'll take us like fifteen or twenty minutes to get packed up and changed and stuff, and some girls shower and....We'll be back in about an hour and fifteen minutes, give or take a few scenarios." I thought for a minute. I might be able to manage _something_ in that amount of time. Finally, I agreed and she thanked me again before hanging up. *Sigh* The things I do for that girl... I glanced around the kitchen. Total was staring at me. His curiosity had obviously been piqued after hearing our conversation.

"What are you going to do..." Total groaned as I opened the refridgerator and peered inside.

"What do teenage girls like to eat after cheer practice?" I asked, poking around. Total looked at me like I was insane. Ha! I probably was!

"I don't know. Why?" he questioned, suspicious of anything that concerned the words Max and cooking in the same sentence. Well...conversation, actually.

"Because, Ella's friends are coming over and I'm supposed to make snacks for everbody." I said, now checking the cupboards. Total snorted and started to laugh. I glared daggers at him.

"Honey..._I _can cook better than you can! And I'm a dog!" He was rolling around on the floor, howling with laughter.

"Total, this isn't funny!" I said loudly, still not sure what to make. He snorted again.

"Yes it is!" I rolled my eyes.

"Well...at least help me out. If you were a hungry teenage girl coming home from a long day at cheer practice, what would you want to eat?" He thought for a minute.

"A diet pill and a glass of water." He said this very seriously, resuming his seat on the kitchen chair. I groaned.

"Seriously, Total..." He sighed.

"Alright, alright. Jeese. Laugh a little..." he told me quietly, thinking. "Well...a smoothie would probably sound good. And maybe some chips and salsa." I thought for a minute.

"Yeah...I can do that." I got up and ran upstairs to grab Fang's infamous laptop. I quickly googled some recipes for smoothies. "Okay, Max..." I told myself once I had found one that sounded fairly easy. "You can do this." The first and only direction was:

_Put all ingredients into blender and blend until thoroughly combined. Empty into glasses and serve chilled. _

Easy peasy lemon squeezy. The ingredients were fairly simple too. Some sort of fruit, some milk, some ice cream...ya know...just normal stuff you'd expect to find in a smoothie. How hard could it be? I dug the blender out of a hidden cupboard, and then started pulling all the ingredients together. "Okay..." I muttered. The blender should be plugged in. I knew that much. I searched around for an outlet, finally finding one on the far wall next to the fridge. It looked like the blender was gonna have to go on the floor. After carefully plugging it in, I added the first couple ingredients. Some strawberries I found in the fridge, some milk, a little vanilla ice cream burried in the back of the freezer, and a miniscule amount of water. I managed to get it all in there with no more than a couple spills. Okay...we had about four missing strawberries, a little lake of milk on the counter with an island of vanilla in the middle, and everything was dripping on the floor, it seemed. I wiped my hair out of my eyes. "Alright... I guess I should start the chips and salsa now. I hunted around the kitchen, and finally discovered a bag of Tostitos in a bottom cupboard, then I went in search of some salsa in the pantry. I didn't know where _anything_ was in this kitchen. Maybe because nobody let me near it for fear they would come home one day and find the house in ruins. But I would show them. Maximum Ride _can_ cook. Maybe not as well as other people, but well enough that she can feed some hungry cheerleaders and football players. Eventually....I couldn't find any salsa. We must have used it all up on taco night. So, instead, I took action. Finding some tomatos, and onions and proceeding to chop them up.

"What are you doing Max?" came Total's worried voice from over to my left.

"Well, we don't have any salsa, so I'm making some myself." I told him proudly.

"Uh...shouldn't you at least look up a recipe?" I rolled my eyes.

"I know how to make _salsa_, Total." I said firmly, continuing my chopping. Soon, the tomato was finished and I moved onto the onion. _"Not bad." _I thought, looking at my perfectly chopped tomato now resting in a large bowl. Well...perfect in my eyes at least. I heard Total leap off of his chair and start to wander around the kitchen. A chunk of hair fell into my eyes. I quickly swooped my hand up to brush it away, but my oniony fingers managed to make contact with my eyes. The juice stung like heck, and I dropped the knife onto the counter and stumbled backwards, blinded, but looking for the sink. I knew it was somewhere behind me, so I continued to amble backwards, waiting to run into the counter. It never came.

"Whoa! Max, look out--!" I heard Total's frantic voice below me, and the next thing I knew, my ankles hit something warm and hard, and I tumbled backwards. I flung my arms out behind me to ease the fall, but instead, my elbow bumped the blender buttons and everything went flying. The walls, the fridge, the floors, _me..._ everything got sprayed with a gelatinous pink goo. And my eye was still burning from the onions. I had successfully tipped over my tray of salsa and the contense littered the floor along with everything else. I groaned, looking at the clock through the haze of pink goo shading my eyesight. I only had about half an hour before they came back. There was no way I was going to be able to clean this up and make more food by the time they got here. I heard Total shake himself off. "Well _that_ went well. I'm going upstairs to take a shower." he said, before strutting out of the kitchen. I put my head in my lap, not sure what to do.

"Max? What are you doing in a kitchen?" a voice said from behind me. I jumped a little, startled. Fang was leaning against the doorway, an empty soda bottle clenched in his fist.

"Fang!" I shouted with relief. "You've got to help me! I was supposed to make lunch for Ella and a bunch of her friends, but instead it ended up like this...and--Where are the other guys?" I said this all in one breath. Fang stepped carefully into the kitchen, avoiding the goo.

"Um....they'll be back in a little bit--what did you do?" he asked looking around in horror.

"I cooked." I told him, sounding a little hurt. And at that, Fang burst out laughing.

"Trashed the kitchen is more like it!" he said, howling with laughter. I frowned at him.

"It's not funny..." I pouted, climbing up off the floor. "Now...the girls are gonna be hear in, like, half an hour! Help me clean this up!" For the next ten minutes or so, we scrubbed, sponged, mopped, and swept everything clean. When we were done, the kitchen sparkled. Fang dumped the chips into a bowl, and dug out some salsa from the very back of the pantry where I hadn't thought to look. Next, he stuck a frozen pizza in the oven. When he was finished, he pulled me to his side.

"Next time...do us all a favor...stay out of the kitchen. Please?" he said. I sighed.

"Fine..." He bent down and kissed my cheek. Before he exited, I grabbed his arm so he couldn't escape. "I need you to do something for me." He groaned. "No...it's easy." I assurred him. "I need you to run down to that fast food place on the exit and grab, like...fifteen strawberry smoothies." He looked at me sternly. "Please...they'll be hear in a couple minutes, and I'm sure they'll be thirsty." Finally, he agreed. Jeese...you'd think I was asking him to shoot himself in the head, or something, the way he was acting. I grabbed my only purse and pulled out a twenty for him to use on the drinks. I kept it slung around my wrist as I watched him leave. He was halfway out the door when he spun around and pulled me into a tight hug. Then he swooped down and kissed me fiercely. When he pulled away, I was gasping for breath. "Why the passionate goodbye? You'll only be gone for a few minutes." I panted. He still hadn't released me, and he stared at me up and down, like he was trying to take it all in. Why was he acting like this? This wasn't Fang-like behaivior.

"I don't know...I feel like I should..." he trailed off. I stared at him, confused. He pulled me to him again, and I felt his hand slide into my bag. I saw him slip a small, folded up piece of paper into it, before withdrawing his hands. "Goodbye. I love you." he said softly. One more passionate smooch, and he was gone. I was about to see what the piece of paper read when the telephone jolted me out of lala land. I ran to answer it. It was Ella again.

"Hey, Max. It's Ella. We'll be there in just a couple minutes." That was all she said before she hung up. I quickly hurried back into the kitchen to check on the pizza and grab the chips.

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**Fang's POV **

I sighed loudly as I climbed into Steve's car, which the happy honeymooners had left behind for the trip. Max and her kitchen antics...Would that girl ever learn? Doubtfull...very doubtfull. I backed out and before I knew it, I was cruising down the highway, on the way to rescue Max from her silly situation. I felt like superman...But for smoothies, ya know? That would be the best super hero EVER! After a while, my mind wandered back to Max. It was hard to believe that in just a few short months, me and her would be...married. I liked the way that sounded. We still hadn't said anything to anyone. I thought for a minute about how to announce it, but decided to think about it some other time, when my mind wasn't so blank in the ideas section. But God...I loved that girl so much. It drove me crazy sometimes. Sure, she could be stubborn, and demanding, and sometimes just a plain old pain in the ass, but I needed her. She was my other half. In all my 19 years, I had never known anyone else like Max. No one that I could just be myself around, like I can around her. No one that I can say nothing but say everything to, except her. And no that I have loved, like I love her. I thought of how I felt before I left. I wanted so badly for her to understand just how much I need her. If I could, I'd make it so that every second of the day, she'd be right by my side so I could know she was safe. As long as I knew that she was safe, I could be okay. I never wanted anything to hurt her. Especially not me. The words on the radio sounded familiar, so I cranked up the volume. It was You Be the Anchor by Mayday Parade. This was one of my favorite songs. I cranked the volume up even louder, until I couldn't hear anything but the music ringing in my ears. Bouncing off the walls, and tumbling around me. Max was safe...she was okay. The world was safe, and everything was good. That's all that mattered. I grinned like a madman as I turned the corner, the image of my flock, my family, plastered onto the back of my eyelids. They were safe...I could be okay.

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A/N: Haha! I wanted that chapter to be a little more...lighthearted. Ya know...give you guys a break. It was just a time filler, but everything that happened in that chapter was vitally important to later in the story. Keep reading. The ending might've been a little stupid, but I just got out of a major writer's slump and I'm still a little slow about this. I'll try to update as soon as possible. Can YOU guess what's gonna happen next in the story? I bet you can't! Go ahead and try! You might be able to. I'm never sure if my story lines are too obvious or not. Oh well...as long as you review, I'll be happy. See ya next time, folks!

P.S. Fang's character might be a little OOC, but that's just cause I NEVER do his POV. But I needed to for this chapter, 'cause it was important! Very important! Wee....

P.S.P.S. Another special thanks goes out to Mayday Parade, who wrote that awesome song "You Be the Anchor". For some reason, that's the song that popped into my head while writing this chapter. Mayday Parade is an amazing band, so go ahead and check them out! The chapter may have seemed pointless to you, but to me...it was the plot former. That special little chapter where everything comes together in my head, and I know what's gonna happen at the end. Again...thanks to snow-hawk-666 who gave me the kitchen idea for this. Without you, there would be no chapter. Thank you for helping me figure everything out! And thanks to my other wonderful reviewers!

**What is this now? A triple P.S.? Anyways...has anyone ever noticed that in practically EVERY Max Ride fanfic, there's always SOME mention of Fang's infamous laptop somewhere in the story. It's just sort of a given.** **So....I now proclaim Fang's Laptop as a main character in the Maximum Ride books! You have my blessing, Fang's laptop! **

*MurderingxMyxTeddyxBear's Blessing*

See ya!


	10. And, Then, the Phone Rang

A/N: Why hello again, children. It's nice to see you all again. Fortuantely, no one was able to guess exactly what would happen in this chapter, which is a good thing for me, because then I know my plot's at least not TOO predictable. So anyways, I guess that's all I have to say. Oh! And thanks to my reviewers! I love you guys!

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Maximum Ride, it would be my name you would see across the front cover of the books, not James Patterson's. So...until that happens, I am proud to say I do not own Maximum Ride. I just write kick ass fanfiction about her. On with the story!

**Iportant Notice!: **As you all know, I recently declared Fang's laptop an official main character in the Maximum Ride books since it's, like, the world's most famous laptop, or whatever. So...if it's going to be a respected main character, I think it needs a proper name as well. Not just "Fang's laptop." Problem is...I'm absolutely horrid at naming things. If YOU have any ideas for a name for Fang's laptop, I encourage you to message me with your ideas. I'll give you credit for coming up with the name, and you'll be know as "that awesome fanfictioner that came up with Fang's laptop's name" You will also receive my blessing. So if you're saying "Ooh! I want one of those!" Then send in your idea, and it could be YOU who gets all those fabulous prizes. (Haha! The end sounded like an infomerrcial! What a dork I am!)

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**Chapter 9: And, Then, the Phone Rang **

**Max's POV **

Kids started pouring into the house about ten minutes after Fang left. Small, skinny girls with perfect tans, all in short skirts, made up a majority of the group. Big, burly guys with lot's of muscles and deep, booming voices followed the girls in. Someone had brought a boom box, and it was now plugged into the wall, blasting some weird form of techno music mixed with rap. Everyone started talking to eachother the minute they got in the door. Two people started making out on the couch, and everyone was dancing wildly to the music. I set down the bowl of chips I had been carrying around, and got out of the way just in time, as several hungry football players dove for the food. I found Ella making her way through the crowd. "Ella!" I shouted at her. I stalked over and grabbed her arm. "I thought you said it was just a few of your friends coming over for lunch. Not the whole football and cheer teams coming over for a party." She looked down at her feet.

"Well...maybe I...didn't stress the amount of kids coming over, but in my defense, this really is just a _few_ of my friends. I have tons more, so to me...this is just a few." She said meekly. I rolled my eyes.

"Mmmhmm...Well you're gonna get it when everyone's gone, so run along and enjoy yourself." I told her scoldingly. She blushed and hurried off to join a group of her friends in a far corner. I heard the oven ding and hurried into the kitchen. _"That must mean the pizza's done." _I thought to myself. I opened the oven and saw that the cheese was all bubbly and delicious looking. But the oven was swelteringly hot. I wasn't exactly sure how to take it out, but I dug out a pair of old winter gloves from the closet and used those to lift the steaming pizza out. I rolled a pizza cutter through it and tossed the slices on the plate. I would probably have to make another one to feed all these kids, but I think I'll wait on that until someone who can actually cook comes along. I brought the plate out to a table, and was again, nearly crushed by a stampede of hungry teenagers. I finally took shelter in a corner by the door, and was prepared to wait until everyone was gone, to move again. My plans were corrupted when the door swung open and bashed my nose in. :(

"Max, we're--" Nudge's voice cut off as she saw the tons of kids packed into our living room "Home? This _is _our house, right?" I pushed the door away from me and stepped out from behind it, frowning. "Max?" Nudge was severely confused. I could see Angel unloading a couple bags from the trunk of a taxi cab they had taken back from wherever they had been. Nudge had an armful of bags as well. Oh lord! They'd gone shopping!

"Don't ask..." I advised her. Of course, she did what Nudge does best. She asked.

"What happened?" I sighed.

"Long story, short...Ella threw a party." I said quickly, pushing past a bunch of conversing children to get back to the kitchen. Nudge followed right behind me.

"Cool." she stated pleasently. I frowned again.

"No. Not cool. It'll probably take a couple hours to get all this stuff cleaned up, and everyone back where they came from. Surprise parties aren't exactly my favorite thing in the world at the moment." I huffed, digging in the freezer to find the other frozen pizza. I handed it to Nudge. "Put this in for me, will ya? I'd burn the house down if I tried" I watched, rather irritated, as she popped the pizza into the oven and set the timer.

"Something tells me you had a previous kitchen disaster today, Max." she said matter-of-factly.

"What makes you say that?" I asked. She raised her eyebrows.

"Number one...you're Max. Number two...there's some pink goo on the ceiling." She pointed upwards. Sure enough, dried out pink goo was plastered to the ceiling. Me and Fang had obviously missed some in our hurry to get everything cleaned up. I just shrugged it off, not in the mood to go on another cleaning expedition. I can only handle so much housekeeping in one day.

"I'm going up to my room. Call me if anything bad happens." I started to exit the room, but Nudge grabbed my wrist before I could dissappear upstairs.

"Max...can I talk to you for a minute?" she asked slowly. I immediately thought back to the note she had left earlier this morning. Something about wanting to talk to me later.

"Umm...sure I guess." She pulled me towards the direction of her room. I saw that Iggy and Gazzy had recently showed up. Iggy was sitting on the couch, looking irritated and picking at a slice of pizza he held in his hand. Gazzy was surrounded by a bunch of highschool girls that were laughing hysterically. Ella was towing Angel around, introducing her to all her friends. Nudge led me past all the commotion, and soon we were in her room. You could just hear the boom of music faintly from down the hall. And the muted voices would carry down the hallway every now and then. I plopped down on Nudge's bed, but she stood, looking nervous. "What's up?" I asked her after a minute of silence between us. She opened her mouth to speak, but then snapped it shut sharply. I frowned. It must be something REALLY important if Nudge_, the_ Nudge who can't shut up for five seconds, was speechless. I watched for another few, long seconds as she paced across the room, looking utterly tongue tied for the first time in her life.

"I--I'm not really sure where to start with this..." she stuttered. The look in her eyes was miles away, and her nose twitched a little like a rabbits, her eyebrows coming together ever so slightly. Her thinking face. I had seen it most often as she poured over fashion magazines.

"Well...start from the beginning, next to the middle, and then tell me the ending." I said, trying to make her less nervous. It didn't work in the way I expected it to.

"Oh...so that's the way you do it." said Nudge sarcastically. "I was gonna start with the ending, skip back to the beginning, and then finish off with the middle to see if you can understand it." She rolled her eyes and took a deep breath before halting her nervous pacing and leaning against Angel's bed. "Um...well...you know that box you saw on my bed the other day?" I nodded in encouragement. "Well...the stuff in that box...I'm not really...just playing around with it." I stared at her waiting for her to continue. She didn't seem to be able to form words correctly.

"Okay. What are you using it for, then?" I prompted. It took another minute for her to speak. It looked like she was choosing her words carefully.

"I've--uh--been around town alot these past couple days, and I...found something that interests me greatly." she continued slowly. I squinted over at her, confused. "Well...it was a boutique...and it had a sign up saying that they were looking for another postition. This boutique...it has special designers that design things specially for them. Well...I was curious, so I went in and I showed the manager a few of my designs. And she liked them...alot. She offered me a postition there as one of the designers." She looked at me, a hopefull glint in my eye. I was speechless. Little Nudge had gone behind my back and taken a job a gazillion miles away from where we lived. I shook my head.

"No..." I said quickly. I knew what she would ask next, and I wasn't even going to consider it.

"Max--" she said shrilly.

"No." I said firmly, getting up to leave the room.

"You don't even know what I'm going to ask!" she yelled angrily, grabbing my arm to keep me in the room. I paused. I guess I could let her ask me the question I knew she would ask. I didn't see what good it would do, though. Verbalizing it wouldn't change my answer. "I haven't said yes yet. I told her I'd have to think about it. I wanted to ask you first."

"Nudge...there is no way you can take this job. We live WAY too far away!" I told her, irritated with her ignorance for things like that.

"Well, about that..." she began. I groaned. " I was talking to Dr. M right before she left for the honeymoon, and she said--" I held up my hand to cut her off. "Please listen to me, Max!" she cried with impatience. I sighed heavily again. "And she said...that I could stay here with her and Steve and Ella if I wanted to, so I could take the job." I shook my head again.

"No way. _No _way. You are NOT living three hundred miles away from us." She gaped at me in shock.

"And why ever not?!" she cried.

"That question was answered the minute I spoke." I told her. "Because you'd be living _three hundred miles _away from us!"

"Max--" she started. I held up a hand.

"I'm sorry, Nudge. I just don't see how that's going to work." I turned to leave the room. I could hear that the party was getting a little out of hand. But as my hand touched the doorknob, I heard a muffled sob from behind me. Nudge had sunk down on the bed. She was crying softly. "Nudge..." I groaned, walking over to her.

"Please, Max." she sniffled, taking my hand and pulling me down next to her on the bed. "This could be my big break. I could finally get started in the career I've dreamed of having since I was a little kid." She sniffed again. "Please...this could be my only chance." I sat there on the bed for a minute.

"Nudge...you'd be so far away. You've never lived apart from us before." I said softly.

"Max...I'm not a little girl anymore. I'm grown up. I can take care of myself just like you can. And Dr. M would take great care of me. You know that." I sighed. I did know that, I just didn't want to admit that most of my flock probably _could_ take care of themselves by now. I still liked to pretend that everyone needed me. It made me feel good, knowing that I was needed.

"What about your job in Renton?" I tried a new approach to change her mind.

"I quit my job in Renton a week before I came here." she said quietly. I gasped.

"You've been planning on doing this ever since you heard we were coming up here?" I was very surprised of Nudge. That's not something I pictured her doing, going behind my back and all that.

"No!" she said defensively. "Well...sort of. Yeah..." she finally admitted. I shook my head. Apparently, I had alot to learn about Nudge.

"What about all your friends back home? Aren't you gonna miss them terribly?" I tried again. She shrugged.

"Perhaps at first. But I'll get over it and so will they. I haven't known them for very long. Most of them, I've only know for a couple months, and I rarely get to see them." I tried on last time.

"What about your boyfriend?" This brought on a pause. For a second, I thought she was considering the loss, but then, she spoke.

"We...broke up. Two days ago. He called and told me that I moved around alot, and that he didn't see me very often. He was looking for a more...serious relationship, I believe were his words. So...he dumped me." There was a long pause where neither of us said anything.

"I'm sorry..." I told her, feeling guilty that I had brought the subject up. She shook her head, though, like nothing had happened.

"It's fine. I guess things happen for a reason, right?" I knew she was reffering to the job even though she didn't say so.

"But...what about us?" Had she even considered the fact that the flock might be hurt by her desicion? I felt even more guilty after saying that. I was being awfully selfish, but I couldn't help it. Total was leaving, and now Nudge too?

"Of course I'll miss you guys. Every second of every day. But that's the price I have to pay for this opportunity. I'd write to you all the time and call you and visit whenever I can." She was on the verge of begging. "Please, Max. This is the chance of a lifetime. Things like this don't happen more than once. Please." I considered my options.

#1: Say yes. This would result in Nudge being ecstatic and jumping alot. Then when we leave to go back to Seattle, she would stay here with my mom, happy as a clam, but a thousand miles away from the rest of the flock. I would worry constantly, but she would be happy and living her dream life.

#2: Say no. This would result in lots of tears from Nudge, possible anger and maybe even slight depression. She would have no job anymore, so she'd be broke until she found a new one. On the brightside, I'd know she'd be safe. Severely unhappy, but safe.

I groaned. Either option had good and bad consequences. I looked over at her face. It wasn't in the bambi eyes expression, it was just...hopefull. Her eyes were all bright and shiny and her mouth was slightly agape, waiting eagerly for my answer. A couple more seconds of staring at her hope filled expression, and I couldn't take it any longer. I let out a long sigh and saw Nudge's eyes brighten substantially. She knew I was caving.

"Well...I guess...if that's really what you want--" I was cut off by a loud squel that errupted from Nudge.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have absolutely NO idea what this means to me! Oh! Thank you!" She pulled me into a bone crushing hug. "I promise I'll write as much as I can, and call, and I'll come down to visit when I have off! Oh thank you!" I sighed. This was going to be a long and painfull new development. And something told me the Nudge channel was going to do a 24 hour special on her new job in about 5...4...3...2...1... "I'll have to come up with all new designs for this, and buy some new material that I need. Do you think we could set up some sort of station in here once Angel moves out? That would work nice. I'll go check if they have an extra table in the basement. I think I might also need a computer. Maybe I'll buy it. One day, I'll own my own boutique. It'll be called "Nudge's". Isn't that catchy?" Her voice trailed off as she exited the room, probably to go find someone else to share the news with. I heard a crash in the living room, and picked myself up off the bed and dragged my feet to the party scene. It was only a bottle of Coke that someone had dropped. I was relieved to see that they hadn't completely trashed the living room.

"Hey, Max!" Ella was making her way through the crowd to talk to me. I raised an eyebrow to show I was listening as I plopped down on the couch and flicked the t.v. on. It was just a local news cast, but some of the kids seemed interested in a story they had on, so I kept it there. Some car accident or something. "Do we have anything else to drink?" Ella asked, sitting down next to me. "All I could find was some Cokes in the back of the fridge." I cocked my head to the side.

"Fang isn't back yet?" I asked. Ella shook her head. "I sent him out to get smoothies almost--" I glaced down at my watch. "Forty five minutes ago." I paused, wondering what could be taking so long. "Are you sure he isn't back?" She shook her head again.

"Positive." She said, and then dropping her voice to a whisper, "Unless he's doing his invisible thing." It was my turn to shake my head. Where could he be?

"Hey! Quiet!" shouted a burly football player standing by the t.v. He clicked the volume up. "This might be someone I know!" Everyone was quiet at once and turned to face the television. A news reporter was standing in front of a busy highway. You could hear police sirens in the background.

"--white car and a truck got into a collision today on the northbound highway 29." said the reporter. I hadn't caught the beginning of his sentence. "The truck colided straight into the small car you can see directly behind me." He gestured to what appeared to be a heap of burnt metal. If you looked closely, you could vaugely recognize it as a car. "The car was simply rounding a corner when the driver lost control of his truck and slammed right into the driver's side of the car."

"Never mind..." said the football player. "My friend drives a silver car." Everyone started to talk again, but I shushed them. That car looked vaugely familiar, even as a pile of scrap metal. I wondered if I had seen it before or if it was just one of those cars everyone seems to have.

"Both drivers were in critical condition." The newscaster continued. "The truck driver was taken by ambulance to the hospital, and there have been reports of a possible shattered leg. He also recieved minor head injuries, as well. The other driver, owner of the white car, had to be flown by Med-Flight to the hospital. Things aren't looking good out here traffic wise, so I suggest you reroute and take--" The rest of his warnings were overwhelmed by a surge of talking. A small voice piped up off to my left.

"Max?" Angel looked worried. "Doesn't Dr. M's car have a bumper sticker in the shape of wings on her back bumper too?" She pointed at the t.v. screen. Sure enough, a pair of wings were stuck to a section of the car that was not burned black. "And isn't her car white too?" My heart froze. An unreasonable jolt of fear shot through me. Everyone was quiet again.

"I--I'm sure...lots of other people drive white cars that have wings as a bumper sticker. "I--I mean...I'm sure--" I couldn't force my tongue to form the words. It was out of control, so I could hardly speak. No one said anything. They all stared at me. I was positve it wasn't him. It couldn't be him. He probably didn't even take the highway. Probably found a back road where there wasn't as much traffic. Still...I couldn't stop myself from shaking. Everything was quiet. Even Angel bowed her head. I could feel my forehead starting to clam up. Suddenly, the shrill ring of the phone jolted me out of my stupor. I stared at it. It looked intimidating, as it continued to ring. No one moved. Someone had even turned off the music so the only sound were the rings. Finally, I climbed to my feet and walked over, allowing it one more ring before I picked up. "He--Hello." I said in a strained voice, trying to disguise my worries from whoever was on the other line.

"I'm looking for a...Maximum Ride?" said a deep, somber male voice.

"You--You're speaking with her." I said nervously. My hands were starting to get sweaty, and the phone was sliding in my grip. I brushed a strand of hair out of my eyes. My fingers were trembling so the phone shook. The whole room watched.

"Yes, hello Miss Ride." said the man. "This is Shane calling from the San Francisco Hospital." My breathing stopped completely and I started to get dizzy. " We have a young man here who says his name is Fang. He keeps asking to speak with you. If you wanted to talk with him, I suggest you hurry down. Things aren't looking very good right now."

The phone clattering to the floor was the only noise to break the tense silence that filled the room...

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A/N: Ooh! Cliffy! Dun Duh Duh! Now you see why the kitchen thing was so important. And why I wanted such a light hearted chapter before this one. I just made up the highway name, and the hospital name as well. (Though there probably IS a San Francisco Hospital) Tune in next time to find out what happens. Please review! I'd like to hear your theories as well. They're always interesting.


	11. Something Not Quite Right

A/N: Okay...I just have a few things to say before we begin the chapter. Okay...first of all...hardly anyone sent me ideas for Fang's laptop's name, so it's still called Fang's laptop. If you have any more ideas feel free to give them to me. Secondly...I got a bunch of angry reviewers telling me I better not kill Fang, and I just wanted to say, Stop! This is my fanfiction, so it's my rules. I could kill him off if I wanted to. I understand that no one wants Fang to die, but there's no need to send me five hundred reviews telling me what I should or shouldn't do. Sorry if I sounded like a bitch there. And finally...I want to write a Twilight fanfiction. This message is for those of you that have read at least on of the Twilight books. I'm looking for ideas for a Twilight fanfic. If anyone has any, I'd appreciate the help with coming up with one. Anything really. Thanks! Now...onto the chapter I promised everyone. PLEASE read the whole chapter. It's important.

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**Chapter 10: Something Not Quite Right **

**Max's POV **

The room was deathly quiet...the way it gets at a funeral. A sad, sympathetic silence, where everyone really just wants to leave. My breathing kept catching in my throat so that I couldn't form words. My vision was starting to get a little blurry. Every part of me felt numb, except for my lungs, which ached because I couldn't seem to breath correctly. I could only _just_ make out certain faces in the crowd. I could see Ella, and Angel, I think, was over in a corner. Or maybe that was someone else. I couldn't see that far away at the moment. Suddenly, the room felt very slow. The walls, it seemed, were starting to move closer together. They pushed in on all four sides. "Help!" I cried urgently, but it was as if no one had heard me. They just stood and stared at me like I was some sort of animal on display that was acting oddly. I didn't like it at all. "Help!" I yelled again. "The walls are going to crush us all! Please, you have to get out!" But no one moved more than a centimeter from where they were standing. The walls were so close now, almost all the way in. So much claustrophobia...Everything was getting blurry. And then, when I couldn't seem to take another single breath, everything went black.

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I could hear voices. Somewhere. What had happened? Where was I? Everything was so dark and still. The words were so fuzzy, I couldn't make out a specific one. It was just a single, repetive buzzing that rang in my ears like an annoying bee that won't go away.

"Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaxxxxxxxx..." Someone was calling my name. I should respond.

_"But I don't want to_." I thought to myself.

"Maaaaxxxx." The word was low and mushy, like it was going in slow motion. I really should answer the person. I finally managed to drag my eyelids open. Shapes seemed to float past my line of vision. The image was so hazy, that all the shapes eventually blended in with one, big, multihued blob in front of me. "Max!" I heard the voice say again. It was clearer this time, and at normal speed. I tried to open my mouth to say something, but I couldn't seem to remember how to speak. "Max! Max! Max, wake up! Max!" I felt a hand or something brush the hair out of my face, and that sent me over the invisible precipice I seemed to teeter on. I jolted upwards and a piercing scream ripped right through the seam that binded my lips together. I saw a few bystanders cover their ears. That's what those blobs had been. People. But why was there so many of them? I looked around, trying to make sense of my surroundings. Ella was kneeling right next to me. It had been her who had jolted me out of my stupor. "Are you alright?" she asked nervously. It took me a minute to think her sentence through. I guess I was a little slow at present.

"I--I had an awful dream." I said weakly. I tried to shake off the threads of the nightmare that seemed to clutch at the corners of my thoughts. The vividness of the dream was fading, but it still hovered, distinct in my mind from the rest of my thoughts. Ella placed a hand under my arm and helped me to the couch, where I sank down from weak knees, and leaned my head back against it. Everyone in the room was absolutely silent. No one wanted to break the quiet. It seemed like the next person who sneezed would be thrown out the window for violating a silence so tense as this one seemed to be. "What happened?" I asked no one imparticular. Ella was kneeling in front of me, her hand on my knee.

"We were watching the news, and then you got a telephone call. You pretty much just fainted after that." she told me. My breathing stopped again. "What happened, Max?" Ella asked urgently. I did not speak. I was pretty sure that if I opened my mouth, I would throw up. Ella stared at me for a long time before realizing that I had no intention to speak. She turned to Angel who was leaning against the stairwell for support, looking about the same way I probably did. Cold, and sick, and unable to verbalize something vitally important. My nightmare had not been a nightmare at all. It was, instead, a terrifying reality. Something much worse. The only thing I was ever really, truly afraid of was happening right now. And I still, had not done anything. I forced my numb feet to move towards the door. The sun was beginning to set, turning the fog to a gold, glittering mist that shimmered low over the ground. I suppose it would have been very pretty under different circumstances. I reached for the knob with shaking fingers, but a smaller hand held me back. Angel was clutching my arm, her eyes filling with tears.

"I want to come with you." she whispered miserably. I nodded. She deserved to come with if she wanted to. Fang would've wanted her there.

"Max? What's happening?" Iggy asked tentatively as he walked over slowly. He looked awfully confused. I wanted to tell him, but I knew it would hurt almost too much to bare. Still...he deserved to know the truth.

"Fang--Fang got in a--a car crash." I stuttered out. Everyone gasped.

"Oh my God!" Ella cried, running towards me. "Is he okay?!" I held out my hands to stop her from coming nearer.

"The--the man I spoke with on the phone...he--he says it's not looking...very good at the moment." I saw many people in the room cover their mouths in astonishment. The words burned my throat on the way out, but I struggled to speak against the ache. "I think--I think he'd want the flock to be there. At the hospital, I mean. I--I wanted to go down and see him--in...in case..." I trailed off. I wouldn't allow myself to think like that. This was Fang. The Fang, I knew never gave up. He went down fighting, and I was sure a single car accident couldn't kill him. I was--I was sure. But...a tiny voice in the back of my head (**A/N: Not THE voice, just, like, her conscience or something.) **told me that I wasn't so sure. The rest of the flock was by my side in an instant. Iggy's face was hard and firm, almost like he was about to cry, but doing a very good job at repressing the tears. Nudge's face was tearstreaked, and from the looks of Angel, hers was about to be. Even Gazzy's eyes filled with tears. Total was sobbing relentlessly, burrying his scruffy face into Angels shoulder as she held him.

"Let's go." Angel said determindly, and the rest of the flock nodded.

"I'll follow you in my car after I get everyone out." Ella said to me as she began to heard people out the back door. Everyone was looking more than a little confused as they shuffled out the door. They kept glancing back at us in shock. We took off from behind a tree and started flying at full speed in the direction of the hospital. I would have gone into my super speed stage, but for the flock. I wanted to get there faster, but I also wanted my flock to be beside me. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too. After a few torturous minutes of soaring through the darkening San Francisco sky, the hospital started to become visible. I could see it looming over the other, smaller buildings next to it. The streets were busy with evening traffic. Ironically enough, we ended up landing on the helicopter pad. It's what we figured would be the most inconspicuous. Then, we dashed through the rooftop door, down a flight of stairs, and ran down a seemingly endless hallway until we found an elevator. I pressed the button about three hundred times before it opened with a ding and we all jumped inside. Annoyingly, "I'm Walking on Sunshine" was playing in the background. I all but covered my ears so I didn't have to hear the happiness that rang in her every word. As soon as the doors slid open at the main floor, we all ran out, knocking into some very confused nurses. The lobby was crowded with people, all looking extremely stressed and tired, like they had been waiting there all day. There were rows of chairs on one side, and a giftshop directly behind them. A fountain was off on the other side by another elevator. I could see pennies glistening under the surface of the shallow water in the fountain. But I didn't spend much time on the appearance of the lobby before I dashed to the front desk to find out what room Fang was in. The woman that manned the desk was a short, chubby woman with a kind face and long, auburn hair pulled back into a tight bun. A pair of spectacles sat on the tip of her nose as she hurriedly typed away on her computer.

"Just a second." she told us absentmindedly. She entered a few more words and then looked up at the five of us. Total was hidden in Angel's backpack. "What can I do for you?" She removed her spectacles and folded her hands, looking stiff and proffesional. But I didn't miss the empty coke cans that littered the floor under her desk, or that her computer was currently occupied with a game of online checkers. I brushed it off.

"We're looking for the room of a very good friend of ours. His name is Fang." I said urgently. She squinted at her computer.

"Fang...odd name that is." she said, trying to get to the registry. "What was his last name?" I thought for a minute. What would he have registered under. Ride, I suppose.

"Uh...Ride." I said a little hesitantly. She typed it into her computer at an agonizing speed. She obviously didn't grasp the seriousness of the visit.

"Right...We have a mister...Fang Ride in room four of the emergency ward." She looked up at us sympathetically. We hurriedly started running in the opposite direction. The damn emergency ward was on the other side of the damn hospital! "I hope everything works out okay!" the woman called after us. I barely heard her. I was too preoccupied with getting to the ward. Several hallways later, we reached the emergency ward. It was filled with bustling doctors and nurses, running from room to room, shuffling through papers. Children cried in the hallways outside of rooms. It was probably one of the most horrible places I had ever been. We ran as fast as we could and banged the door to room number four open. I almost fainted again. Sure enough, my Fang was laying in a bed. His body was mangled and scraggly. Every inch of him was covered with cuts and bruises. My numb legs moved forward automatically. He looked so frail...so weak. It wasn't like him at all. I heard the door open again. A small nurse had entered the room carrying a stack of clipboards. She looked surprised to see so many people in here at once.

"Um...can I help you with anything?" she asked quietly. I could only shake my head. The rest of the flock stood still at the door, most of them having desolved into silent tears. I reached my hand out tentatively to stroke back a lock of hair that had fallen into Fang's eyes. The second I made contact with his skin, his hand shot up to grasp my wrist and his eyes fluttered open. Something wasn't right. This was Fang...the Fang I had known my entire life. But something about him seemed different. Physically...he wasn't quite the same. I'm not talking about the injuries that covered his body. I was used to seeing him in similar situations. Maybe not hurt quite so bad, but there was not a time I can recall that Fang didn't have at least one bruise somewhere on his body. It was normal for us. But...something I couldn't put my finger on seemed different about him. Maybe it was his weakened state. I was defintely not used to seeing him looking so vulnerable and helpless. But...it seemed like more. My mind cleared as he spoke.

"Max..." His voice was raspy and faint, but filled with layers of emotions. Another thing I was not used to. I could feel my eyes start to water as I watched him struggle to speak. I had, so far, not shed a tear. I had been too busy for that. And besides...I had my flock to protect. I can't have them see me crying. That would look very...un-leaderish. The polar opposite of me. "I--I love you..." Fang rasped out again. A single tear escaped and rolled down my cheek. My eyebrows pinched together.

"I love you too." I whispered. I glanced back at my flock. They had all looked away. Probably embarrassed by our display of affection. It would have made me feel awkward too. I stared back down at Fang. He was still clinging to my wrist like a little child. Something about his touch was different as well. Almost unfamiliar. Something was missing from his touch. I couldn't figure out why I kept thinking everything about him was changed. It was still the same person. It was still my Fang. Wasn't it? Of course it was. Who else would it be? This was my Fang. I was sure of it. But something felt different. I pushed the thought to the back of my mind as I tried to verbalize the question that sat on the tip of my tongue. "Are you--gonna be okay?" I asked tentatively. There was a moment of silence while he struggled to answer.

"I--I don't know." A searing pain ripped through my chest. Those words hurt more than the actual situation. Almost like...it was a confirmation of what was happening. It hurt. But...Fang would pull through. I knew him well enough to know that he would fight until the very end. I held his hand very tightly while I watched his face. It was not the 'Fang' look. He opened his mouth. His breathing was shallow and harsh. "Love--Love you..." he stuttered. I stared at him, confused.

"Love you too." I said softly. I heard his breathing hitch in his throat. His eyes were fluttering closed. I stared at him in poorly disguised wild shock. "Fang?!" I shouted, releasing his hand to shake his unmoving shoulder. The heart rate monitor had reduced from a slow, steady beep to a high pitched drone. A single beep that went on continuosly. "Fang?!" I screamed, shaking his shoulder. No! Not again! I wasn't loosing him! Not now! I heard clipboards fall to the ground, and hurried footsteps followed by the frantic voice of the nurse. My head was spinning. "Fang!" I cried. More footsteps entered the room. A hand tugged on my shoulder, but I wouldn't budge. I screamed Fang's name, but no matter how many times I yelled it, the monitor was just one steady beep. Tears had been unconciously pouring down my face. More hands tugged at my shoulders, but I stayed still. A couple nurses were hooking up tubes and masks onto him. I shrieked his name again.

"Miss Ride, you're going to have to leave the room." said a firm male voice in my ear.

"No!" I yelled, fighting fiercely against the arms that were pulling me back.

"Miss Ride.." said a little nurse frantically.

"No!" I screamed, sobbing now. The rest of the flock had been pushed out of the room. "No!!" I fought harder against the arms. There were so many. Finally, I felt Iggy's familiar arms wrap around my waist as he tugged me out of the room. He was very forceful, and my crying weakened me. I gripped the edge of the door, but he pried my fingers free, and soon we were standing in the hallway. The door slammed shut, and I could hear hurried voices calling out instructions, and fast footsteps bustling around the small room. The beeping still rang clear in my ears. I shuddered as Iggy pulled me backwards to the emergency room waiting area. Well...he more or less dragged me. He finally sank down against a wall, pulling me next to him. I turned into him and cried softly into his shoulder, shaking. Angel curled up next to me, clutching a sobbing Total in her arms. Nudge leaned on Iggy's other shoulder, her arm around Gazzy. We were all crying. The infamous Max Ride was crying her eyes out. Even Iggy had tears running down his face. It felt like my world was crumbling around me. Nothing could be worse than the agony I felt. Absoulutely nothing.

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Every second that ticked by was pure torture. The room was too quiet, but also too loud at the same time. My mind was jumbled, twisted, and everything felt like it was spinning. Ella had arrived a few minutes earlier, and had taken my spot next to Iggy and was presently sobbing. I had Angel curled up in my arms, but I was itching to get up and pace. I couldn't seem to sit still. I felt like I'd explode if I remained like this much longer. A somber looking nurse with a gentle expression entered the room suddenly. I jumped up immediatly, placing Angel on the floor. The others looked up as well. There was a minute of silence. The nurse just looked into my eyes. It felt like an eternity had past before she even moved, even though it could have been no more than a few seconds. She glanced down, and then silently shook her head. A pain of such intensity shot through me that I almost fell over. I heard Ella gasp and then desolve into tears once more. Iggy looked down gravely, and Total howled. Angel layed down on the floor and cried. And Nudge was shaking, grasping a counter for support. The nurse looked at us all, her eyes filled with sympathy.

"His body just...gave up. He wouldn't fight it anymore. I'm sorry. You can come see him if you want. He looks...peaceful." she offered quietly. I shook my head. I wanted to remeber him exactly like the Fang I had always known. Not the one that seemed so different. The nurse left the room. I looked around at my flock. My family. It was broken. But it was still my family. And they were in pain. I had to suck up my own pain for the sake of them. So that's exactly what I did. I picked Angel up off the floor and slung her over my back piggy back style. She was awful big to be getting a piggy back ride, but I didn't care.

"Come on, Ig. Let's get back to the house." I said in no more than a whisper. Iggy climbed to his feet, helping Ella up. He then scooped up Gazzy who cradled Total. He held Gazzy close to his chest. Nudge and Ella clung to eachother. And we left the hospital. What a pitiful group we were.

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We were home. Well...me and Ella were, at least. The rest of the flock had left to go blow off some steam. It was sort of in our nature. We had to get out and do something to distract ourselves from pain in any form. Iggy liked to sit on park benches and listen to all the sounds there. He said it was beautiful and very distracting. Total had gone with him. Angel and Gazzy both liked to fly because you could feel every fiber of your being humming in rhythm with the wind, and it felt familiar and comforting. Nudge liked to go back to places that had some sort of sentimental value to her. It calmed her down and helped her remember good times. I think she went over to the Golden Gate Bridge. Fang and her had spent the evening out there a few nights ago, just watching the sunset and chatting. A fond memory to calm her. I personally liked to go somewhere totally unfamiliar and explore it. Not only did it keep me distracted, but it was also interesting and there was nothing there to remind me of the pain, 'cause it was so unfamiliar. But I couldn't bring myself to leave the house. Truthfully, I didn't want to be distracted. I don't think I could have been if I tried. This was too much pain. And it was still fresh. I took a deep, steadying breath. I could hear Ella in the other room. She was on the phone with Mom. What an awful way to end a honeymoon. Finding out that your daughter's boyfriend had died in a car crash. My poor mother. I was leaning against my bed, a photo of me and Fang in my hand. We were probably eight or nine in this picture. I could see the E shaped house's kitchen sink in the background, so we had still been living with Jeb. Me and Fang had our arms around eachother's shoulders and were both smiling hugely. We were covered in soap bubbles all over. An attempt at the dirty dishes seemed to have been made. I sighed, a small smile tugging at the corner of my lips. A small tear dripped off my cheek and onto the shiny photo paper. I hurriedly wiped it off, afraid that I would damage it. I put the photo aside and reached under my bed, pulling out a dusty Scrabble board. THE Scrabble board. I brushed most of the dust off and carefully removed the lid. The board lay, untouched from last time, in the middle of the box. The words 'marry me' were still where they had been the night he proposed. I had never gotten the chance to tell the rest of the flock. Another stab of pain pierced my heart. I tried to look past it. I'm not sure how they would handle it now that he was...gone. I tilted the box slightly, and a small object rolled out from under a dent in the board. It was my ring. Simple and beautiful at the same time. I picked it up delicately and touched it gently. At least _this_ felt the same. I slipped it on my finger and held my hand out to examine it. It looked...wrong. I know that would have been different if he were still here. I left it on. I heard the door open slowly. I looked up to see a puffy eyed Ella standing in the doorway, the phone in hand. I quickly hid my hand behind my back so she didn't see the ring.

"Mom--wants t--to talk to you." she stuttered feebly, holding the phone out to me. I pushed it to my ear.

"Hello?" I said quietly.

"Oh, Max!" My mom seemed to be just as tearfull as the rest of us. I sighed. "Oh, honey! I'm s--so sorry!" Her voice shook a little."We--We're boarding the next flight back to San Francisco. We'll be home in about two or three hours!" I gasped.

"No, Mom! I want you to stay where you are and enjoy your honeymoon!" I said frantically.

"Max...do you honestly think we could've enjoyed our honeymoon knowing that Fang was dead?" she asked skeptically. Some of the effect was weakened due to the fact that she was sobbing. "It'll be for the best." I picked up another picture. A close up of Fang's face from when were about thirteen. "We'll be home as soon as we can, okay Max?" I couldn't respond. Something in the photo had caught my eye. Fang's eyes in this picture were the same as they had always been. A deep, deep chocolate brown that was unusually reflective of emotion, even though he was so good at disguising the fact. No one's eyes could ever compare to Fang's. They were his, and could never be duplicated. Not ever. They were too unique. This was exactly the problem. "Max?" I heard my mom's voice say again. I was too busy to answer her. I flipped through the other pictures. They were all the same. Those eyes of his... The last one I got to was Iggy and Fang holding up a drawing of a whole town being massacred. It was drawn on a sheet of crinkly, white paper. This picture struck a memory. Just this morning, Fang had slipped a piece of paper into my purse. I gasped loudly, remembering. "Max?"

"Mom I have to go right now. I'll call you later, I promise. I've gotta go, love you, bye." I quickly hung up and tossed the phone back to Ella. She looked very confused. I brushed past her and hurried downstairs to find my purse. It was hanging from one of the coat hooks. I wrenched it from it's spot and quickly dumped it's contense onto the floor. I pushed items aside, looking for that sheet of paper.

"Max? What are you doing?" asked Ella as she jumped the last step.

"I'll explain later. But...help me find a small piece of paper." I told her frantically. She bent down and began searching with me.

"This?" she asked, holding up a folded square of paper. I grabbed it hurriedly and tugged it open.

_I will never leave you behind. _

That was all it said. But that was all I needed to confirm my fears. I was absolutely positive that Fang would've never given up like that nurse had said he had. He would never do that. I knew him too well to believe that. And I had figured out what had been different about the Fang I had seen in the hospital. His eyes. Fang's eyes were absolutely un-duplicatable. There could never be a remake of them. And the Fang I had seen in the hospital did not have that quality about his eyes. That Fang's eyes did not have the warmth or the love or the depth that the Fang I had known had. Nor was his touch the same. His touch was not filled with emotion like it usually was. And this note...telling me he would never leave me, made me absolutely sure that the Fang in the hospital was not the same person as the Fang that had left to go get smoothies. It was the only conclusion I could come to, and it was absolutely ridiculous. Perhaps it was just me, looking for a way out of this nightmare, something to grasp hold of. A shred of hope. But...I couldn't shake the feeling that I was right. That this was not just some stupid hope. That this was real. I couldn't spend the rest of my life not knowing. I had to find out. I folded the note into my pocket, and dashed to the back door.

"Max?!" Ella cried anxiously as I hopped into the car. She flung open the passenger side door and climbed in.

"Ella...you might wanna stay here." I told her, funbling with the keys.

"Hey." she said sternly. "This is my car. I get to coome along if I want to." I sighed loudly. I didn't have time to argue. I didn't know if Fang was in danger or not.

"Fine. Buckle your seatbelt." I said, clicking my own into place. She quickly snapped hers in with shaking fingers and stared anxiously ahead as I opened the garage door.

"Uh...where exactly are we going?" She sounded nervous.

"Oh...we're just going for a little drive to the hospital." I said dangerously, revving the engine.

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A/N: Well...a confusing chapter, I'm sure. So...baisically what happened is..."Fang" died in the hospital, but those photos and the note convinced Max that it wasn't really Fang in the hospital. She thinks that he was, like, replaced or something. Ya know...like what happened to her with Max II. So she's going to investigate with Ella. I thought that would make for an interesting pair of invesitgators. I'll try to update as soon as possible, but I'm going on vacation on Friday or Saturday, and I'm not sure if they have internet stuff there or not. I hoped you liked the twist in the plot. I was originally just gonna kill Fang, but your pleading reviews gave me other ideas, so I guess I'm kinda greatfull for them. (Even if they are kind of annoying) Anyways...Hmm...thanks for reading. Review please and tell me what you thought. Got any ideas as to what should happen? Send um in. I like to see what you guys can come up with!


	12. Teenage Mutant Ninja Birdkids!

A/N: Hi! I got some awesome reviews after my last chapter, and I'm glad those of you that were responsible for said reviews enjoyed my plot twist. Thanks for reading you guys! Anyways...I have finally found a name for Fang's laptop! Hooray! Cheer with me...There you go. Anyways...this name is brought to you by.... someone who wrote me a review signed 'Just Moi'. Fang's laptop's name is now... Sonia. It fits, 'cause I always imagined Fang's computer being a Sony. Yeah! So it's Sonia now. I don't know why I thought you needed to know that...Oh well! Yeah so... 'Just Moi' thanks for coming up with the name, and you have my blessing.

*My Blessing!!*

Anyways...I'm gonna be on vacation for a little bit, so It'll proabably be awhile in between this update and the next one. Thank you all for reading my story and reviewing. 'Cause I've got some faithfull reviewers that have been reviewing since I started this story, and I just wanted to say thank you, and that I really appreciate your imput. Now...on with the story!

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**Chapter 11: Teenage Mutant Ninja...Birdkids! **

**Max's POV **

We screeched to a stop fifteen minutes later in the hospital parking lot. Or rather...on the hospital parking lot's curb. Me and Ella jumped out of the car, and immediately dashed for the entrance, ignoring the many bystanders that seemed to have taken to staring at us. What?! You never seen two teenagers jump frantically out of a car that's practically still moving, before?! Wait...never mind. "Max?! What are we doing here?!" Ella yelled after me as I pushed past a group of angry looking doctors in masks. They cursed after me, but I ignored them. I was used to it.

"I'll explain later!" I yelled over my shoulder, skidding to a stop in front of the elevator. Ella finally came to a stop next to me, panting. "But right now, we have to hurry. This could be exetremely important." The elevator dinged and we jumped in, pushing some very annoyed looking Japenese people out in the process. "Sorry!" I yelled at them as the doors slid shut. They yelled some words in Japenese that I was glad I didn't understand. I looked at the buttons key taped to the shiny silver wall in front of me. There was no listing for where the hospital kept dead bodies. I turned to Ella. "If you were a hospital, where would you keep the dead bodies?" I asked quickly. She looked puzzled.

"Uh...I don't know. The basement, or something, I guess. What does that have to do--" I cut her off before she could ask.

"I'll explain later." I frantically jabbed the button that would direct the elevator to the basement. I felt the elevator lurch downward, so I knew we were moving. Thankfully, Ella didn't pester me with any more questions. I was too busy trying to concentrate on what I was about to do. Okay. How would I prove that this Fang wasn't the same Fang that had been with me since we were little? Well...his eyes. But that wasn't enough. I needed proof.

_"Well..." _I thought as the elevator lurched again. _"How did we know who belonged to the school?" _This question brought up an aray of answers. Well...they were usually evil and hell-bent on killing us. But...overlooking that fact... Aha! There was usually some sort of marking on their bodies. Like...a number code of some sort. I would start there. Checking the body for unusual markings. The only thing that really baffled me, was that I thought that we destroyed the school two years ago. Why would it be dormant for two whole years, and then suddenly decide to launch an attack? It didn't make sense. I guess there was always the theory that they were making us let our guard down. Letting us get comfortable and then surprise attacking. A frightening thought crossed my mind. What if it wasn't a replacement Fang? What if Fang was really...dead. No! I wouldn't think like a pessimest. I would go into this expecting to be right, and if I wasn't I would be okay with that. Alright...that was probably the worst lie I had ever told myself, but I couldn't help it. Then I though of something else that might pose as a bit of a problem. Say it _was _a fake Fang. What would I do then? Well, go find the real Fang of course, but where? The elevator came to a stop and the doors slid open. I guess I was going into this flying by the seat of my pants. We jumped out and the icy air hit us. Ella shivered and wrapped her arms around herself, trying to keep warm. We could see our breath. The air and the atmosphere both had a damp sort of quality to them. And the whole place was dark, and soggy, and frankly...just not a very good place. But I'd dealt with far worse conditions than this, and quickly ventured onward. I could hear Ella close behind me. Our footsteps echoed of the stone walls. I could suddenly see a faint light right ahead of us.

"Max? What are we doing down here?" Ella chattered from behind me. I didn't answer. We had come to a door. It had a little window in it so you could see into the room behind it. It was brightly lit with a large metal table in the middle of the checkered tile floor. Large metal cabinet like things made up the walls along the sides. As far as I could tell, this room was vacant. And, most likely, the room we were looking for. I pushed the door open. It was unlocked. Stepping in, we were greeted with another blast of chilled air. And the stench in here! Like rotting garbage in the middle of a field of wild flowers. A sickeningly sweet scent that didn't quite cover the stink. It was worse than if the room had just smelled bad. I scrunched my nose, but entered anyways. I saw Ella glance around the room curiously. I walked tentatively towards the table in the middle. Ella had strayed off towards the large metal cabinets.

"Ella..." I said, not quite ready to open up any of these, knowing what they would contain. She ignored me.

"What's with the names on these cabinets? These must be paitient files or something. Here's one for a Mr. Jerry Collins." She reached for the handle on the cabinet.

"Ella, no!" I yelled, but it was too late. She tugged and the cabinet slid open. Ella let out a piercing scream that forced me to cover my ears. She sank down onto the floor, already desolving to tears. I walked over as calmly as I could, trying not to look at the dead body that was stretched out on the large steel tray that had been in the wall. I pushed it back in before bending down and helping Ella to her feet.

"It's okay, Ella." I whispered soothingly. She shuddered.

"Why are we here, Max?" she asked in a shaky voice. This snapped me to immediate attention. I had almost forgotten the urgency of the situation. I released her and dashed to the wall of cabinets. I started searching it for Fang's name, finally finding it towards the end of the rows. 'Max?" Ella said again, walking over to stand by my side. I stared at the cabinet. Was I ready for this? I didn't think so. But then again, I was never ready for anything that happened to me. And one of my flock memebers could be in danger. My true love. The one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. I had to do this. I couldn't spen the rest of my life wondering "what if". Wondering I would have found and who I could've saved if I'd opened that cabinet. I took a deep breath, preparing myself, and then yanked the tray out. I almost screamed. "Fang" was laying, cold and stiff on the board. This was worse than I had imagined. Pain was starting to form in my chest again. Starting to cloud my mind so that I couldn't think coherently. I had to pull myself together if I wanted to do this. I took another deep breath and started to examine the body. Nothing on the front. I moved to flip it over. "Max! What are you doing?!" Ella screamed in shock as I turned it over.

"Relax, Ella. I don't think this is the real Fang" I calmly explained.

"How can it not be?!" she shrieked.

"I think the school, or something, made a clone of him and used it to kidnap Fang. He could be in danger." She looked at me like I might be dangerous. What was wrong with people these days? Do I look crazy?! Wait...don't answer that.

"Wait...I thought you destroyed the school, like, two years ago." she said suspiciously. I nodded.

"So did I. But, I really don't think this is the real Fang."

"No...you really _hope_ this isn't the real Fang." she corrected. I frowned immediately. She looked sorry that she had suggested that. "Max--I" I interrupted.

"Ella...this is very, very important. I need you to help me find some sort of marking on this body. Please. I need you to help me." She looked at me for a long minute. I stared back with pleading eyes.

"Fine." she sighed sullenly, and proceeded to help me check the body. Ten minutes later, we had found nothing. Tears filled my eyes. I tried to fight them off. Ella looked at me sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Max" she muttered, her own eyes welling full of tears. I was about to roll his body back over, when I spotted something. Three miniscule numbers were printed on the bottom half of the right side of his left ankle. I bent down to see what they were. One of them wasn't a number at all. It was a tiny letter A. And following it, were the numbers 5 and 1. A51. Unless Fang got a tattoo I didn't know about, I'd say we'd found what we were looking for.

"Bingo." I said quietly.

"What does it say?" Ella asked, bending down and squinting.

"A51." I said slowly, trying to add up what that would mean. Ella gasped. "What?" I snapped.

"Max...you don't get what that means?" I looked at her pointedly. Obviously, I didn't know what it meant, or I would be formulating a plan. She sighed. "I'm pretty sure that stands for Area 51." I looked at the numbers. Uhoh. Area 51 was not good. They took in, like, alien stuff and experimented on it. I shuddered at what they might be doing to Fang at this moment. If Fang was even still alive, that is. I clenched my teeth. He sure as hell better be. I rolled the body over, and banged the cabinet shut. I then ran at full speed back to the elevator. Ella jumped in right before we started to move upwards. "Max...what are you doing? It's not something stupid, is it?"

"Oh...it sure as hell is." I told her, my jaw clenched in anger. No one messed with my flock! Especially not creepy scientists!

"Max...I'm not positve that Area 51 is the place. I mean...they're good, right?" I frowned.

"I don't know...I've had run-ins with other scientists, and my experiences with them weren't exactly fun." I said bitterly. The elevator dinged open and I rushed to the front desk. I grabbed the back of the womans chair and pushed it away from the desk. She rolled quickly into the busy main floor. Ella didn't even say anything. She obviously saw it as a lost cause. I quickly googled the letter/number code I found on the ankle. All the results were for Area 51. "See!" I pointed to the screen. Ella sighed.

"Well...say he is at Area 51. That's in Nevada. How would we even get there?" Ouch. Our first problem. Sadly, there was probably many more to follow. Suddenly, I heard something that gave me an idea. Ella saw it on my face. "Max...what are you thinking." I could clearly hear the steady beat of a helicopter landing on top of the hospital.

"Well..." I said slyly. I think it's about time that I put my training as an airforce pilot to the test." Ella looked at me quizically.

"But, Max." she said. "You _have_ no training as an airforce pilot."

"Exactly..." I said, already on my way to the elevator.

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A/N: Ugh! Terrible chapter. Sorry! Can't be helped! Sorry that was so short, but I leave for vacation in a couple hours, and I promised you a chapter. So I just gave you something that I hoped would tide you over until I get back. If I don't reply to your reviews for a little while, don't take it personally. I am on vacation. I'll check my email whenever I can, but I promise, I'll write you when we get back. Whish me luck! We're going to Boston! See ya in a little while!


	13. Super Secret Missions

A/N: Hi! I'm back from my vacation! It went great in case anybody cares or anything. Anyways...I'm so sorry! I know it's been an eternity since I've updated, but I'm doing my best to update as fast as possible. I hope this chapter turns out okay. I wrote the last one in kind of a hurry, so I didn't really like the way it turned out. Well...I guess I'm gonna write another chapter now....

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**Chapter 12: We're On a Super Secret Mission! (Oops...I Probably Shouldn't Have Told You That...) **

**Max's POV **

We burst through the rooftop door a couple minutes later, only to be nearly blown off the building from all the wind the chopper was making. It was already landed, but the blades were still rotating very quickly. As we screeched to a stop, a couple med-flight paramedics jumped out of the helicopter, helping a long, white stretcher to the ground. I could vaugely see the features of a young teenager laid out on it. The sheets were stained red. I cringed. "I think I've had enough of the hospital for one day..." I muttered to Ella. She nodded, looking apprehensive. "Come on." I said before dashing towards the chopper, who's blades were now rapidly slowing. A short man with a pot belly and chipmunk cheeks was sitting at the controls, flipping switches and playing with a little dashboard thing. He didn't hear us come up. I quickly threw open his door. He looked up in surprise.

"Hey...you kids aren't supposed to--" he started to say, but he was cut short as I grabbed his shirt collar and heaved him out of the vehicle.

"Sorry...it's an emergency!" I called to him as I slammed the door.

"You kids aren't supposed to be up here!" he cried.

"Yeah, well....we're technically not supposed to fly helicopters, either but we're doing that, so....." I quickly started playing with the buttons. I eventually found one that seemed to make the blades start rotating again, so we could no longer hear what the man was shouting. And from the looks of the hand gestures he was making, I'm not sure I wanted to.

"Max...do you have any idea what your doing?!" Ella asked frantically as I fastened my seatbelt and tried to figure out how to take off. I flipped a few more switches that looked like they might be important before gripping the steering firmly with both hands.

"Of course..." I said reasuringly. "I've had lots of practice." Ella loooked skeptical.

"What?! Where?!" she cried.

"The International Academy of Xbox 360." I said, pulling up on the steering wheel. We lifted off from the landing platform with a great jolt that lurched us backwards so we were pressed flat against our seats.

"Oh...dear God!" Ella cried, cluching the edges of her seat. "I'm too young to die!" I rolled my eyes and tilted the steering wheel to turn away from the building. More people had gathered on the roof to see what was going on. I opened the door just a crack. Ella shrieked in terror.

"Sorry!" I yelled as loud as I could. "I'll return this to you as soon as possible!" I shut the door again, regained control of the steering and we flew off in the direction I thought Nevada was in. Thank the lord for my god-like sense of direction.

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We had been in flight for what seemed like hours. Patience had never been one of my shining qualities, but, in view of the circumstances, everything seemed so much worse. Ella was white as a sheet, and she had not yet released her grip on the seat edges. I was scanning the very distant ground for anything that resembled a secretive military base that probably didn't want to be found. The chances of getting into this place were second to none, but I couldn't just not try to save him. There's no way I could live with the fact that I didn't even try to save him when there might have been a chance. It would haunt me forever. I glanced over at Ella. I was putting her in so much danger. How could I do this to her? "Ella..." I said loudly enough so that she could hear me over the noise. She turned her chalk white face to me. "I can land somewhere before we get to Area 51 so you can call, like, Iggy or something. I'm sure he'd be happy to come pick you up." She shook her head frantically.

"No...I wanna help too. It's the least I could do. I mean....I'm the reason he got kidnapped in the first place." I let out a long sigh. "Max! Look!" My eyes flashed to the ground where she was pointing. I could see a large area of land that appeared to be fenced off in the distance. A bunch of buildings littered the ground.

"Well, Ella....I think we found the place." I said softly. Neither of us said anything as I turned the copter around and flew a little ways in the opposite direction. I slowly pulled down and we landed on some flat ground. We jumped out the doors and looked around. The land was barren with negative one items of foliage. Except for little patches of green stuff growing out of cracks in the desert ground. I pointed in the direction of the looming military base thing and we started to walk in that immediate direction.

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We were standing a few feet away from the fence of Area 51, the last place I wanted to be at this particular moment. We were hidden in some shrubs that apparently grew conveniently by the fence. We just crouched there and stared at it, like little kids who had been dared to steal something from the toy store. "Alright..." I whispered to Ella. She craned her neck so she could hear me. "Here's the plan. I'm going to fly over the fence in super speed. That way the camera's won't be able to catch me. You're going to stay out here." She opened her mouth to protest, but I held up a hand to stop her. "Let me finish. Then, I'll take care of our buddies at the gate entrance, shut down the camera system in the control room, and open the gate to let you in. Then we'll steal the clothes off the people we attacked, and make our way around the place looking for Fang. Got it?" She shook her head yes quickly, but I didn't miss the look of concern in her eyes. I started backing away so I could get good distance to go into super speed.

"Max, be careful!" Ella called after me. I ended up walking all the way back to the chopper. I took a deep breath and let my wings out, lifting myself off the ground. I did a couple circles above the chopper before soaring in the direction of Area 51. This was, by far, the stupidist thing I have ever done in my entire life. And I had done a _lot_ of stupid things. I saw Ella on the ground below me, looking up in amazement. I waved to her and then kicked into superspeed. I shot over the fence. The camera mounted ontop of it didn't even have the chance to move a centimeter by the time I was behind a stack of boxes. I peeked out. The coast was clear and the controls were only a few feet away. I darted out from behind the boxes and took shelter around the corner of two closely placed tin buildings. Two men in uniform walked right past me, their noses burried in blue prints of some sort. They were arguing loudly and didn't pay the slightest attention to me. When they rounded the next corner, I darted again, this time making it to the controls. There were two men in the booth. One looked like he was about to fall asleep and the other stood stock straight, but stared in the opposite direction. I crouched below the glass so they couldn't see me unless they knew I was there. I took a deep breath.

"Alright, Max. You can do this." I muttered to myself to take the edge off my nerves a little bit. "On a count of three. One...two...three..." I kicked the door open, and cuffed the attentive one over the head. He didn't even have time to react. He hit the floor like a brick. The other one had a little more time. He jerked up, fumbling with the gun in his belt. After about a minute, he had it pointed at me.

"Make--Make one more move, and I'll shoot." he said. The effect was slightly ruined by the fact that he yawned in the middle of the threat.

"All right..." I said, throwing my hands into the air. "I'll come quietly." The man looked very proud of himself. He turned me around and pushed the gun into my back.

"That's a good girl...." he muttered, starting to push me from the room. We were just about out the door when I jerked my elbow back, hitting him squarely in the nose. He moved to clutch the now bleeding mess, and I knocked the gun out of his hands. It clattered to the floor. I threw another quick punch to a pressure point on his neck, and he too hit the ground. Now both men were out cold. I scanned the control board and found the one that powered the camera system. I quickly shut it off, and watched the camera screens go blank. Then I ripped the button out so no one could turn it back on. I studied the two men on the floor. One was tall and skinny, the other was slightly on the short side, and a little chubby. I'd let Ella have the thinner one. I undid the buttons on the chubbier man's uniform, leaving the poor man in nothing but his underpants. Jeese...it's bad enough to have your ass kicked by a teenage girl, but to be pantsed by one? Ouch. That's gonna leave a bruise on his self-confidence. I slipped the uniform on over my clothes and buttoned up. I got the other man's uniform off of him, and dragged them both under the counter. Then I found the button that opened the gate and peered out the window to signal Ella in. She slipped stealthily from behind the shrubs and crept towards the now open gate. I grabbed a hat and tucked my hair inside of it, then plucked the mans sunglasses from his eyes and placed them over my own. I closed the gates and rushed out to meet Ella. Grabbing her by the arm, I started to tug her towards the control room where the uniform awaited.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" I stopped in my tracks. A man in a uniform was walking towards us. I struggled to think of an excuse about why I would be dragging a teenager through Area 51. What was I going to say? I'm giving her a tour? I don't think that would go over very well.

"Umm--I...found this girl trying to climb the fence. I was just about to take her in." I said as professionally as I could manage. I elbowed Ella in the gut. "Look sad!" I hissed at her. Ella's expression immediatly became one of dissappointment. She struggled against my hold on her arm.

"Let me go..." she said angrily, pulling against my restraint. The man studied us for a second.

"Well...you better hurry up then. I'll go check the perimeter for any stragglers." And with that said, he strutted off towards the gates. I let out a breath of relief.

"Jeese...people will believe anything these days." I said exasperatedly. "Now come on, maggot." I joked. "We got work to do." I pulled her toward a building that looked like it could possibly hold my kidnapped lover. All that was in there was a bunch science stuff. "Next..." I muttered. But the next one turned out to be another experimenting room. We checked approximately fifteen different buildings, but the most helpful one we found was the cafeteria. "Great..." I said sarcastically. "So now if we get hungry later, we can just dash in here and grab what we need." Ella laughed a little. I rolled my eyes. "Come on...let's try the next one. The awful feeling in the pit of my stomach got worse every time we didn't find anything helpful. How much time did we have? Were we already too late? I just kept going. Building by building, we kept at it. Only to be dissappointed everytime. We finally reached one that looked big and intimidating. I pushed the double doors open. Inside, a bunch of people in white coats stood around the room. They all turned to face us. I gulped. My experiences with people in white coats had never been good. A man with a gotee and bushy eyebrows was the first to speak.

"Can I help you?" He had a thick accent. German I think.

"Uh...I think I must have gotten lost." I said quickly. "Sorry, I'm kinda new here. I'll just leave you to whatever your doing." I gave a nervous laugh and began to back out of the room. But...I had never been that lucky. I collided with a steel wall right next to the door. The force of the hit knocked my hat and glasses to the floor. I froze. Would they notice? I glanced up tentatively. Ella had gone speechless too. The scientists crossed their arms and grumbled, giving me the evil eye.

"Oh...I'm sure your _very_ new..." said the man with the German accent. I gulped.

"Um...what's the plan?" Ella asked.

"Uh...Run!!!!!!!" I cried at the top of my lungs. We dashed out the door, running straight towards the gates. Suddenly, an alarm was screeching, and a bunch of lights were flashing. I saw the gate's locks click. Me and Ella hit the gate and pounded on it with our fists. It had no effect. All around us, we could see men with guns running out of buildings and straight towards us. Soon, we were surrounded. They pointed their weapons at us and held them there. A man with a megaphone spoke through the crowd.

"Put your hands in the air, and drop any weapons!" He yelled. I saw Ella raise her hands. I followed suit. "If you do as you are told, no one will sustain any injuries!" I turned to Ella and mouthed "I'm sorry." She nodded.

"Max...we didn't come all this way to come back empty handed, or go to prison, or whatever it is they're going to do to us." I stared at her, puzzled. "We have to fight." I shook my head.

"There's too many, and they have guns. We'd probably die." I said quietly. "Just...do what they tell us." The man chose this moment of silence to cry out the instructions.

"You will be led to this building over here!" He pointed to one of the steel buildings to his left. "Come quietly, and no one will get hurt!" Two men in uniform poked the guns into our backs.

"Come on, Ella..." I whispered to her. "We'll figure something out." I started to walk in the direction they were pushing us in. Ella followed. It looked like she was going to behave herself until we were about ten feet from the building. We were both shuffling towards it when she stopped suddenly and slung her arm back, wacking her guy in the nose. Everyone turned to face, and pointed their guns. I did the only thing I could think of that could possibly stop them from shooting.

I jumped in front of her and let my wings out.

"Max!" Ella cried when she saw. My wings snapped out from my back in a great whoosh of feathers. I let them flap loosely in the breeze. Everyone's jaw dropped. The man with the blow horn placed his hand on a gun that protruded next to him, and pushed it down so it aimed at the floor.

"Do--Don't shoot..." he said in amazement. Everyone lowered their weapons, and stared at me. Oh! What had I done?

For a minute, nothing happened. Then, they started to throw nets and stuff at me. Two men grabbed Ella and started to drag her away. "Max!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. I struggled against the nets, but there was so many of them now that I had no chance of getting out.

"Ella!" I screamed. I couldn't let them take her away. This whole thing was my fault. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain in my upper leg. I ripped my eyes away from Ella to look at what had happened. A large, red dart had embedded itself in my leg. I tried to rip it out, but the nets were too tight. I felt tired all the sudden. My vision got black spots on it, and the men I looked up at suddenly had two heads. I had tunnel vision now, and my whole body was numb. I couldn't move a limb. The voices I heard were all mushy and slow. Then...everything went black.

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Blackness....blackness....blackness. That was all I could seem to register. And a hum. Some sort of odd, humming noise stirred in the back of my mind. I could feel myself hovering on the fine line between uncounciousness and conciousness. Teetering. I tried to push myself towards awakeness, but nothing I did seemed to allow me to drag my eyelids open. I pushed a little harder. Odd shapes floated past my eyes. Circles, triangles, shapes I couldn't even name. All in varying shades of blackness. Then a shadow...lighter blackness than the rest of what I was seeing. It continued to get lighter until it was white. Whiteness... All blackness was forgotten. Only whiteness now...Whiteness...

I jolted awake suddenly, my eyes snapping open and my muscles tensing. I didn't understand what I saw. It was just more whiteness. I was awake, but there was only whiteness. Was I blind?! I couldn't be. There was no way... Right? I could suddenly feel my body again. I could feel myself, but I couldn't move. I felt a tube on my face. Actually, I could feel a lot of tubes all over my body. I struggled against whatever was restraining me and tried to tear the tubes off. They felt like bugs crawling all over my body. I could almost feel the thousands of legs ravaging on my limbs. I _could_ feel it! It tickled, and felt horrible at the same time! I couldn't stop them! There was so many! Help! Help!

Suddenly, I felt myself move. The tubes were ripped from my face. I tipped forward. I could feel the table moving. In a shocking flash of color, everything went black again. I could feel myself falling. I tried to spread my wings, but they hit some sort of wall before they could extend fully. I hit the cold hard ground suddenly. It seemed that my eyesight was back. I was in a room that was made entirely of stone walls. There was nothing else in the whole place. I couldn't even see the door. Only a clump of dark shadowy, blackness ahead. I picked myself up from the ground. I checked my ankles and arms for anything broken, but surprisingly, I didn't seem to have a scratch on me. I moved tentatively towards the darkness, and when it consumed me, I waited to hit a wall. It never came. I just kept walking straight, but nothing ever got in my way. I couldn't see anything. And, like magic, a light was in the distance. I broke into a run, but it seemed to be getting farther away. Finally, when I was panting from all the running I was doing, I hit something. It was the oddest thing. It was, like...it wasn't there one second, and then the next second, it was. A clear, transparent sheet of glass was what I had hit. A brightly lit room with a bunch of tables stacked on top of eachother sat behind it. I felt around for a handle, and grasping it firmly, I pushed a section of the glass in, entering the room. I gasped. This was not the room I had seen through the glass. This room was very dimly lit with white walls, cieling, and floor. Polka-dots in varying shades of purple were painted onto all the surfaces in the room. I turned around, but the door I had come through had dissappeared. Oh shit...

"What is this place?" I wondered out loud, turning in cirles to view the whole room. I got closer to one of the purplish polka dots and gasped. It wasn't a polka dot at all, but a hole! This room was covered in purplish holes that I couldn't see the bottom of. I poked my head into one of the ones on the wall in front of me. More blackness. Okay...enough with the freakin' blackness already! I was too curious to back out. I started to climb into the hole. It appeared to be some sort of tube-like tunnel. You know what they say...Curiosity killed the mutant bird kid... Or something like that. Anyways...I crawled through the cramped space for a couple minutes, when without warning, I tumbled onto the ground. Straightening myelf, up, I found that I was in an entirely empty room with a set of large, wooden doors at the end. I walked towards them, seeing that my little tunnel exit seemed to have conveniently dissappeared. I took a deep breath, and pushed open the doors.

My poor little, mutant bird kid jaw nearly hit the floor when I saw who was standing there. Here's a hint: It was the last person I had ever expected to see.

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A/N: Uh oh! Another cliffhanger! I feel like I've been doing alot of those lately, but that's kinda my thing. It's what I like to do to keep my readers interested. Anyways, sorry about the long update wait. I promise I'll get the next one up ASAP. It took me, like, three days to write this chapter because I was being a lazy ass. LOL. Anywho...review. Please?


	14. The House of Mirrors

A/N: Hey! I'm back again! Alright...I know many of you have been waiting to find out who was the mystery person Max saw when she came into the room. Well...you're going to find out...right now! I'll skip the whole introduction thing, and just get onto the story already. Enjoy!

P.S. PM me, guys! I love talking to my reviewers. It doesn't have to be fanfic related, just...tell me how your day went. Ya doing anything interesting? Are you a loser who just needs someone to talk to? Are you home alone? LOL! Just kidding. But seriously, PM me!

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**Chapter 13: House of Mirrors **

**Max's POV **

Brigid. Sure...the very last person I had expected to see in a situation like this, but I had never been more glad to see her in my life. It took me a minute to register that she was there. I opened my mouth to speak, but shut it again, not sure of what to say. She just stood there in the center of the room like she had been waiting for me. "Brigid?" I finally blurted out. "What are you doing here?" She didn't answer, she just went on staring. "Never mind. You don't know how glad I am to see you." I walked over and grabbed her arm, trying to pull her towards the other set of double doors at the back of the room. She didn't budge. "Come on...we have to get out of here." I pulled more. "Brigid? Brigid...come on, we have to leave." She was looking at me now. I stared back, confused. There was something fishy about this. I scrunched my eyebrows together.

"Maximum...you'll never be able to get out of here." She said. I cocked my head to the side. "These rooms are impossible to escape." Her voice was oddly calm.

"What do you mean? Brigid? Do you know where we are?" She smiled. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Something weird was going on here.

"Of course I know where we are, Max. I built this place." she said, that awful smile still glued to her face. I released my hold on her arm and took a step back.

"Wh--What are you talking about?" I had the sickening feeling that I knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Well...I suppose I should probably explain." She looked off into space for a minute, like she was thinking. I took another step backwards. "You see...when you destroyed The School two years ago, well...that just wouldn't do. I mean...I was out of a job. What was I supposed to do?" My jaw dropped.

"Wait...you worked for the school?!" I said, shocked. I mean...I had thought so a couple years ago, but she had been so helpful since then. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, it was true. She smirked.

"Worked for it? Honey...I practically ran it." She smiled wistfully, like she was recalling pleasent memories. I almost gagged. "At least...I did for a little while. Until you brats got in the way." She frowned at me in distaste. "But...after the unfortunate ending of The School, I decided that it would be a real waste just to let you run off and be all happy. So...I started another branch of The School, created only to destroy scum like you and your little mutant friends. So...I got hold of some close, personal friends out here in Nevada. Together, we designed a place for us to plan and a wonderful place to confuse little children like you who stick their noses where they are not welcome." She paused for a minute, and I tried to process everything she was saying. "I spent months developing a plan to lure you out here. It's nice to see my plan in action."

"Wait...you mean...this whole thing was just a trap?"

"Well, of course. Isn't everything?" She did have a point. I watched as Brigid started to pace around the empty room. "I had been monitering you very closely, Maximum Ride. Waiting for the right moment to start my plan going. And when I saw Fang, driving all alone down the highway, it was just too perfect a situation to miss out on." She held up something in her hand. I squinted at it so I could see what it was. It looked like some sort of robotic fly. "Do you know what this is?" Brigid asked me. I shook my head. "This is a small remote controlled insect that is designed to take control of technology. I simply had the little bug fly under the hood and into Fang's engine, and then I took control of the steering wheel. The poor thing swerved right into that truck. He was knocked out cold when we found him." Anger bubbled up inside me.

"Is he hurt?" I growled. "You better hope he isn't." Brigid gave a tiny little laugh that caused sparks to fizz inside of me.

"Oh...I'm sure he's just fine. You have yourself to worry about, though." I practically growled, resisting the urge to launch myself at her so that I could hear the rest of the story. "So...we took him back here--"

"Where exactly is _here_?" I interrupted. I expected that she would get angry, but she simply answered like nothing had happened.

"_Here _happens to be underground in Area 51. This was the perfect location for my headquarters, because there's such tight security already. Not even the military knows we're down here. Quite clever isn't it?" I didn't move a muscle to acknowledge her, but it was actually pretty clever. "Anyways...after we got Fang back here, we figure the whole lot of you would come looking for him. Barge right down here and try to save him, falling right into my trap. I tried to make it as obvious as I could without making it too obvious as to where he was, by marking the fake Fang with A51. But...instead, you showed up with that little brat, Ella." I suddenly remembered that she had been with me. How long had I been down here?

"Where's Ella?!" I shouted suddenly. Brigid frowned.

"My...you do ask a lot of questions, don't you? Don't worry...your little friend is safe for now. Of course...we won't be needing her after a little while, but no one is to harm her yet." Damn! Why couldn't Ella have just listened to me and stayed back? "Now...we at least have you here. The leader of the brats. We're not quite ready for you yet, so I'm just going to leave you down here until we're prepared. Your boyfriend, on the other hand, might have a slightly shorter amount of time." She smirked. That put me over the edge. I lunged at her, ready to rip her to pieces bit by bit. But...I jumped right through her. I spun around in shock. She wasn't there. Where had she gone?! "Looking for someone Maximum?" I turned back around, and gasped. In front of me, was an army of Brigids.

"What the hell?" I said. I lunged at one of them, but smacked into a layer of glass instead of her. I spund around again. I was surrounded by thousands of Brigids. I jumped at more of them. But I only collided with glass each time. The Brigids started laughing. "What is this place?!" I cried in horror.

"These rooms are designed to confuse, Maximum. Each room is never what it seems...it can be anything it wants to be. And each room moves around as it pleases. They are constantly changing. No one could possibly make it through them. At one point, you would just end up in the same room you started in. You can wander around all you want, but I guarantee you...you will not be able to escape." They all smirked. "Now...if you'll kindly excuse me, I have some business to attend to." In one quick flash, they all dissappeared. I was left with the mirrors. Staring around, I realized they did not reflect me. I moved towards them. It was odd not being able to see myself in it. I bumped into it suddenly. Turning around in circles, the room became a blur. I was in a circle of mirrors that did not reflect or let me see through it. That prospect is impossible. I searched for a good ten minutes, before realizing that there simply was no way out of this room. Brigid had evidently sealed it off somehow. How much time did I have before she came back to get me? More importantly, how much time did Fang have left? I needed to find him. I just had to. I just needed to think. I sank down against a mirror and let my head fall into my hands. I sat there, trying to form coherant thoughts. Nothing that ran through my mind was of any help. There was no way I could make it out. I couldn't even find a freaking door!

"Don't tell me the infamous Maximum Ride is giving up." I jumped in shock. Looking around the room, I realized that I was completely alone.

"W-What?" I could've smacked myself. I hate it when I stutter!

"I know this may come as a shock, since you haven't heard from me for so long." I recognized it this time. I hadn't heard from the voice in so long, I had practically forgotten I ever had one.

"When did you turn up?" I asked it, sounding almost bitter.

"After you destroyed The School, you had no use for me anymore. There was no reason I should stick around, when you didn't need me. What was I supposed to do? Sit in your head all day and listen to you fantasize about Fang?" I blushed.

"I did not _fantasize_!" I cried. Then, I remembered why I was here in the first place. "Look...did you come here to tease me, or help me, 'cause I don't know how much time I have left before Brigid comes back with a scythe or something and cuts my head off." I heard the voice chuckle.

"I think Brigid is a bit more civilized than that." it said. I groaned.

"Please...can you just give me some help?"

"Allright. These rooms are designed to confuse people, Maximum." I moaned. Great! He was gonna tell me everything Brigid already told me. "All you have to do is not let it confuse you."

"Oh...well that's great. But...how the hell am I supposed to not be confused?!" I shouted.

"The trick is not overthinking it. Many people think that because a problem is tricky, the answer to their problem has to be tricky. When it is actually quite simple. People just begin to overlook simple answers, thinking that it has to be complicated. That's why many things are so confusing." I sighed.

"Okay...simple answer. Um...I could...Oh my God, I am such and idiot!" I said, suddenly thinking of the answer. I could hear the voice chuckling. "I can just break the mirrors!" I shook my head at my own stupidity, got up, and walked over to the wall of mirrors. I quickly put my foot through it in a quick, forceful kick. The glass shattered into a million pieces, flying past me like crystal daggars. I watched each shard hit the ground, listened to the echo of the tinkling sound they made as they collided with the stony floor. I was about to walk through the hole I was left with, when the shards picked themselves up off the ground and flew past me again. Their razor edges caught my skin this time, as they zoomed back into place to form the mirror. I cried out in frustration. "What is this place?! That's impossible!" I smashed another mirror, and another, but they all formed again too quickly for me to leave. "What is this place?!" My ever helpful little voice chimed in again.

"This place...is nothing more than confusion. It's the essence of confusion. The very epitome of it. There is nothing more to it. It's almost a state of mind. As close to it as science allows. These rooms were designed to daze people, and nothing else. That is why they exist. The perfect place for holding someone captive, don't you think?"

"Oh...yes. It's perfect." I grumbled bitterly.

"It makes people question everything, and that alone...is dangerous. But...instead of working against the rooms. Perhaps you could...work with them?" the voice suggested.

"And how exactly am I supposed to do that?" It didn't answer. "Great..." I groaned. At that moment, it jumped in again.

"Try thinking like the rooms, Maximum." I rolled my eyes. I walked over to a mirror. Standing in front of it, I tried to recall anything that Brigid may have said that would help me. After sifting through my thoughts for a minute, I found one thing she had said that gave me an idea.

_"Each room is never what it seems...it can be anything it wants to be." _Maybe...just maybe...it could be what _I _wanted it to be. I placed my hand on the glass. It was warm under my fingertips. I ignored the change.

_"You are not a mirror..." _I thought, _"You are a door..." _And the next thing I knew, I was tumbling through the glass. Or rather, the glass that was no longer there. I fell onto a sort of plasticky floor with a fancy design on it. Picking myself up, I got a real shock. Not only was I in what looked like some sort of old time ballroom, but there was people everywhere! Couples spun past me, and a band played string instruments in a corner. I couldn't hear any music, though. Chandeliers burned brightly from the cieling. Little, crystal tear drops hung from them. I couldn't linger too long in here, I had to keep moving. I had to keep trying to find an exit. I found my answer on the other end of the floor. A set of heavy looking double doors sat tall, and proud across the dance floor. I could hardly contain myself. I moved towards the hundreds of spinning couples, ready to weave through them. I was prepared to shove, and possibly critically injure some people if they got in my way. Unfortunately, I never got that far. Just as I was about to enter the throng of people, it was like a force field was put up. I could see through to the people, but it was as if a transparent wall seperated up. I banged my fist against it several times, but it didn't have any effect.

"I can't get through..." I muttered to myself.

"Well...how do you get through dance floors? It's nearly impossible to walk through them." the voice chimed in. I thought for a breif second.

"You usually dance through it." I concluded. I watched more couples spin by. "Easy enough." I put my arms out to an imaginary person, and started to spin just like the people out there. But...when I got to the force field point, it still would not let me in. I grumbled, annoyed, and started to back up. This time, I took a running start at it. I slammed into it so hard, it knocked me backwards onto my butt. That's when I caught sight of the large, golden sign that hung from the wall. How could I have missed that?

**ALL ATTENDEES MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A PARTNER IF THEY WISH TO DANCE **

"That's why I can't get through. I need a partner. There's no one else hear." I said.

"Think like the room, Maximum. Things that are normally impossible, are not always impossible here." said the voice. I was surprised. The voice was actually being helpful for a change. That was a major accomplishment.

"Okay...thinking like a messed up, magic room..." I muttered, thinking. I looked down at the floor and started to pace. The light from the chandeliers bounced onto the floor, casting my shadow onto the fancy patterns. I watched my shadow walk along side of me as I paced. A small, and severely ridiculous idea popped into my head. I spun around, and watched my shadow spin with me. I did it again. The idea formed into a sort of crazy plan. "Is there some weird way that I could...ask my shadow to be my dance partner?"

"I don't know. Why don't you try." said the voice. I stared back at my shadow on the floor. The idea seemed WAY out there, but this whole thing was WAY out there... I cleared my throat.

"Ahem...Um..Shadow...er--would you...like to dance?" I asked tentatively. For a moment, nothing happend. But, suddenly, my shadow nodded. I gasped in astonishment as my shadow peeled itself from the ground and stood itself up. It shimmered before me. I was reminded immediately of Peter Pan. My shadow extended its arms, and took my hands. A feeling of darkness consumed me. It felt cold, and dreary. Me and my shadow spun through the force field thing and onto the dance floor with the other couples. I could hear the music now. A waltz, I think. "This is so freaking weird." I muttered.

"I know..." the voice replied. "Amazing technological advances have allowed us to create a sort of...scientific magic. Stunning, isn't it?" I nodded in agreement, unable to take my eyes off of my shadow. Sure...I know they could graph bird DNA into human DNA, but this was just plain freaky. A whole set of rooms that could somehow scientifically create illusions. This sort of thing was almost impossible to believe. But it was hard not to when one was standing right in front of me. And then, we were at the door. My shadow's hands slipped from mine, and the feeling of darkness left me. It sank down to the floor and settled itself there. I tried to shake the thoughts off to get through here as quickly as possible. I pushed the doors open and found myself in a long hallway. The carpet was red and the walls were dark wood. At the end of the hallway was a door. I stepped forward, and suddenly, I could feel him. Fang. I could feel him. I knew he was behind that door at the end of the hallway. I just knew it.

"He's in there..." I whispered. "I know he is. I can feel it." I started to run. I ran as fast as I possibly could towards that door. Then I noticed something odd. With each step, the door seemed further away. I ran faster. The same thing happened. I was practically out of breath. "It just--gets further away!" I said angrily, trying to run faster.

"Maximum..." the voice said soothingly. "Calm down. It's another illusion. More scientific magic. Just be patient. If you are patient, you will get there faster."

"How do you know so much about this place?" I asked, now stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"Because I know everything, Maximum Ride. I just do..." I didn't want to argue at the moment.

"Allright...patient." I closed my eyes and cleared my head. I was patient. I took steps with my eyes closed. At a casual pace. I kept patient. Then...I hit something. The door. I opened my eyes. Sure enough, the handle gleamed in front of me. I could feel him. He was so close, that it hurt to keep the distance. I took a deep breath, wrapped my hand around the knob, and pushed, listening to the rhythmic squeak of the door as it swung in.

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A/N: Wow...that was a weird chapter. Woah...Hopefully that wasn't too weird for everyone. I was watching previews for Rose Red, and got all inspired and stuff by it. (Wow that sounds cheesy...) I can tell you one thing though. Damn, did I have a blast writing that! Anyways...PLEASE review. I need to know what you thought! I promise the next chapter will be more normal. Did you like that it was Brigid? I was originally gonna make it STEVE, but then...I'm like "How will that work?" So I decided Brigid instead. Thanks for reading. Sorry if I went all creepy Sci-Fi/fantasy on you! Apologies.....


	15. Closure

A/N: Hello, my children...Wait...that was all stalker/priest like. Let me try that again. Ahem...Welcome, my friends, to my chamber of love...No that wasn't much better. Ah well...screw the introduction. Sorry it's taken me so long to update. My school just started up again, and I've been trying to get everything organized. That and my computer wasn't letting me upload documents for a little while. But...it's all fixed now. So...I'm gonna write some kick ass fanfiction now... Oh! And PM me. I love talking to my reviewers!

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**Chapter 14: Closure**

**Max's POV **

My heart caught in my throat as the door gave way to the room it concealed. There he was. My other half was chained to the wall at the wrists by a series of iron bindings that tangled up into the stoney concrete. The room was chilled and musty, and smelled strongly of sweat and damp stone. Fang cracked an eye open at the sound of my noisy entrance. It took him a second, but I suddenly saw his eyes go wide at the sight of me. They filled with a wetness I could hardly see. "Max..." he croaked. His voice was cracked and dry. The way it gets after a long day without a drink of water. I stumbled towards him, my legs numb with feeling, and heard my footsteps echo off the walls. I found my face leveled out with his chocolate brown eyes, glowing with emotion. My limp hand reached up to brush his cheek. He was as cold as death, and the chill burned my finger tips. Using my other hand, I gently brushed the hair out of his eyes, placing a feather light kiss on his forehead. No words were needed to express the way each of us felt at this moment. He had been stripped of his shirt, and his back and chest were peppered with small bruises and gashes, none of them looking particularly serious. He strained against the chains, not quite strong enough to break through them.

"What happened?" I muttered, running my hands over his cuts and bruises. He attempted a shrug against the chains, but it ended up looking more like a flinch.

" I was--I was just driving, and all the sudden everything...it just went black, and--and I woke up in here." he said, not taking his eyes off of me for a second. "Where am I, Max?"

"Well...somewhere underground Area 51..." I thought for a minute about how to explain it. "We...uh...it's a secret branch of the school that Brigid formed after we--" He cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

"Wait! Brigid?! As in...Brigid Dwyer?!" I nodded quickly.

"She formed it after we destroyed the school two years ago. Turns out she was working for it the whole time." Fang was speechless. "What? You don't believe me?" I asked bitterly. He shook his head.

"No...no of course I believe you, Max. What is she trying to do exactly?"

"Look...I'll explain it all later, I promise, but right now we have to get out of here." I tore myself away from him to try to get the chains out of the wall. It looked like a losing battle, but I would find some way to get the chains out, or my name wasn't Maximum Ride. Examining them, I found that they were seemingly normal chains with nothing unusual about them. They were just chains. Which made me wonder why Fang couldn't have simply broken through them. After a half hour, or so of pulling, even Angel could've ripped them right out of the wall. I wrapped my hands around one of them, ready to pull. What surprised me about them, was that they were warm to the touch. It was freezing in this little dungeon thing, and the iron should've been the coldest thing in here. But, it was warmer than Fang. I pulled against each of them several times, but neither of them showed any signs of wanting to break. I braced one foot against the wall and leaned backwards, using my weight to assist me. It didn't budge. I groaned in frustration and tried the other one.

"Well....Maximum. I didn't think you'd be able to make it all the way here." I spun around. Bridgid was leaning casually against the doorway, looking quite unphased that her prisoner was attempting to escape. A low growl rumbled in Fang's chest. Bridgid turned her attention to him. She smirked warmly. "Hello, Fang. Yes...it was me. I set this whole thing up by myself. I was going to kill you much sooner than this, but the school kept holding me back. They wanted to experiment first. But...you destroyed them before they could get their hands on you." She walked over to him, and patted his cheek. I wanted to lunge at her, but figured she would just put up one of her magical, scientific forcefields or something. There was no point wasting my energy. It's not like she was hurting him, anyways. At least not yet. Bridgid spoke up again. "Of course...I did enjoy that you seemed to trust me so much, Fang." she cooed. Okay...cooing to my fiance right in front of me is not a smart move. Especially counting I am a very angry ninja bird that could kick her ass. Fang snapped at her fingers, looking more animalistic than I had ever seen him. Bridgid took a step back, but looked quite relaxed, despite that Fang had just attempted to bite her fingers off. "Well...I'm not quite sure what use we have for you now. I've already run the appropiate tests on Fang. I suppose I could do the same for you..." Fang tried to launch himself at Bridgid, but the chains wouldn't allow him to move more than an inch off the wall. I placed a hand against his cold chest to restrain him from wasting any more energy.

"Bridgid...you lay one hand on her, and I swear I will rip right through these chains and kill you with my own bare hands." Fang growled, his eyes shining with malice. Brigid gave a little laugh.

"Calm, down...there's no need for you to be so...brash." she said, looking oddly happy. "Well...I guess we don't have to run any tests. It's not like it's going to tell us anything we don't know. You're all muscle...no brain." Fang growled loudly, trying to strain at the chains again. "There are a select few people that realize brain power is far more important than physical power. You may be strong, and fast, and...able to beat me up. But...did you build this place? No...I built it. I built this amazing place, and not even you, with your big muscles and fast feet, are able to escape it." She smiled at with satisfaction, as if just realizing what she was saying. "I built it using my brain, not my muscles. I'd much rather be a "science geek", than a stupid little slut like you." This time, Fang actually managed to rip a chain from the wall, but I got to her first. I couldn't resist, this situation gave me too much of an excuse to do some ass kicking to pass it up. I tackled her to the ground, wrapping my hands around her thin little neck, attempting to strangle her.

"How are those brains working for you now?!" I yelled at her, my hands still squeezing tightly against her trachea. She was turning bright red. Suddenly, I was flying backwards. I slammed into the wall with a force that made me feel and hear a sickening crack that came from the back of my skull. I felt something warm trickle down the back of my neck. I looked down, feeling something cold and heavy on my wrists. Chains had extended from the wall, and engulfed my arms in their irony embrace. I tugged at them, but they didn't allow me to move an inch.

No!" Fang cried. "Let her go, Bridgid! You let her go right now..." She shook her head, climbing up from the floor with bruises in the shape of my fingers forming on her neck.

"Dammit!" she said crossly, rubbing her neck. "You stupid slut, what were you thinking?! These rooms work for me, not you!" she roared. Her face was beginning to pale some. Looking over at Fang, I noticed that his chain had somehow resituated itself back into the wall. He looked furious, breathing heavily, still pulling against the chains. Bridgid seemed to have calmed down slightly. "You can never beat me, Maximum Ride. You thought you could win against me using your muscles, but look where its gotten you!" She pointed angrily at me, looking rather psychotic. "Evil always wins in the end, haven't you learned that by now?!" I suddenly felt bad for her. She was so severely misguided, that I began to take pity on her.

"Bridgid...let us down. We never said that you weren't smarter than us. I know your smarter than me. You don't need to prove it to us." I said as calmly as I could. Bridgid's usually cold smile, turned to an icy frown.

"You better believe I'm smarter, Max. I know I am." she said angrily. I nodded.

"Yes...I know you are too, so there's no need to prove anything to me. I know you're smarter, so let us go." Bridgid shook her head.

"You don't know what I went through. What happened to you, is nothing compared to what I have gone through." Her voice was beginning to shake, and her eyes were starting to go foggy. "I was made fun of constantly. Throughout my entire life, I have had to deal with people just like you who think that muscle, and power beats brains, and knowlege. I was always "that nerd", or "the smart kid over there". I was never just Bridgid. When people looked at me, they didn't see a person, they saw a walking dictionary with big, chunky glasses and a bad haircut." A tear rolled down her cheek. "No one ever gave me the respect I knew I deserved. When The School came around, it gave me something to show that I could beat all of you big, muscle freaks. But even The School took me for granted. When I started gaining power, they all felt bad that they hadn't been very nice to me. I loved it. How they listened to my every word." She paused for a minute to savor the moment. Her face suddenly turned cold again. "And then you came along and ruined everything. I was so close to making the world respect me! So close! But you were always in the way." She ground her teeth together. "The kids at school told me I was worth nothing. The people around town told me I was worth nothing. My own _parents_, told me I was worth nothing. For my entire life, there's always been someone there, blocking my way to the things I want. And now you're in my way, and I have to destroy you." I shook my head.

"Bridgid, I'm sorry that you didn't have a good childhood, and I'm sorry your parents were so mean to you, but that doesn't mean you can take it out on others. I know how you feel. My childhood wasn't exactly great either, but do you see me taking it out on random people I know?"

"You took it out on the people at The School." Bridgid said, matter-of-factly. "You took it out on the erasers. They were in your way, so you took them out. That's how it works in this world."

"Bridgid...the only reason we 'took them out' was because they were trying to kill us. There was nothing else we could do. We're not trying to kill you, we just want to get out. Please..." I said calmly. Bridgid gave a tiny laugh.

"See what I mean? Now that you can't pummel me, you can't do anything. You're helpless without all those big muscles, aren't you Maximum Ride? All you can do is beg to me on your scrawny little knees."

"Please...come over to the good side. I'm begging you. It will be for the best. No one can win with just muscles, or just brains. But if we came together...muscles and brains...we'd be able to do something to help the world." I pleaded with her.

"No...No! All you need is a good brain! I don't need fancy muscles, I just need a strong mind! And I'm going to show you, Maximum Ride. I'm going to show you that I _can_ win. I can beat you with nothing but pure brain power. People like you deserve to rot. Have a nice death." She said, starting to back out of the room.

"Bridgid, please!" Fang cried. "Please, you can't do this. Let us down." Bridgid shook her head, looking absolutely diabolical.

"It's the least I can do to let you die together" she said sourly. "You two deserve eachother. I'll release you from the chains when I leave the room. I assure...It'll be quick." She left the room, and the steel doors slid shut behind her. The chains unlatched from our wrists suddenly, sending us tumbling to the ground. The wound on my head was still trickling blood when I hit the floor. When I was finally able to scramble up to my feet, I threw myself into Fang, who wrapped his wiry arms around me in a cold, but loving embrace. We sank to the floor, me in tears, and him looking close to it. He pulled me into his lap, and I clung to him with all my strength, burrying my face into his rock hard chest. He whispered shaky words of comfort in my ear, and rubbed soothing cirlcles in between my wings like he knew I liked.

"Fang..." I whispered raggedly. "I love you, I love you, I love you..." My voice trailed off into a million I love yous. He placed his icy lips to my forehead and whispered,

"I love you too, Max." His hand somehow made its way up to my head, and pressed my face into his chest. I peppered his chest with small kisses, trying to concentrate on me and him, and not our immenent death. Fang withdrew his hand. When I looked over, I saw that it was covered in blood. My own hand jumped to the back of my head, feeling the warm wetness that pooled at the base of my neck.

"I'm bleeding..." I murmured, staring at my ruby red hand. Fang nodded and tore a piece of my shirt and held it to the wound, attempting to lessen the flow. I leaned my head against his shoulder, trying to ignore the fuzzy, light-headedness that was beginning to rack my brain. I breathed in and out slowly. "What's going to happen to us?" I asked quietly. Fang was quiet for a minute. All I could hear was our breath mixing together in the thin air.

"I don't know, Max." he said, "I just don't know." That heavy silence filled the room again, pressing down on both of us. I took another deep breath.

"At least we have eachother..." I said with a hint of vague hope in my voice. I could feel Fang's face twitch into a slight smile. The room felt a little warmer.

"Yeah...we have eachother. And that's all I could ever ask for. If I had to choose a way to die, it would be whatever way, as long as you were right by my side." He kissed the top of my head again. I savored the feeling of his lips on me, knowing that we could go at any moment. Bridgid had said it would be quick. Another minute passed...nothing happened. And then another. Were we already dead? Had it really been _that_ fast? _That_ painless? I lifted my head just a bit.

"Are we still alive?" I asked. I sounded like a lost child when I spoke. My voice was trembling. Fang looked around.

"I don't know...you're still with me. Maybe we've died and gone to heaven." As soon as he finished speaking, a large popping noise echoed throughout the room, bouncing off of the walls and reverberating in our ears. Both of us flashed our eyes in all directions, searching for the source of the noise. All around the room, iron lids had popped off of metal tubes that protruded from the stone walls. I stared in disbelief, watching a fine mist emit from each tube. Had I been a regular human being, I would not have noticed it.

"Poisonous gas..." I whispered, shock being the dominant emotion in every syllable. "They're going to kill us with poisonous gas." I could feel tears stinging my eyes. Fang pushed my face into his chest once again.

"Close your eyes, Max. Shut your eyes and try not to think about it." he murmured. "Think about us. Think about me. Think about you. Think about me and you." My brain was starting to go fuzzy, and my throat felt odd. Like I was breathing through a thin straw. It wasn't...painfull. More uncomfortable than anything else. I wondered if Fang was feeling the same thing. I glanced up at his face. It looked thin, and distraught, but it looked like Fang. It looked like my Fang. It _was _my Fang. I reached a hand up and stroked his cheek. His eyes wobbled down to meet mine. I was having trouble keeping my eyes open. He pulled me tighter to him.

"I love you..." I whispered. A faint smile graced his lips.

"Love you, too." I heard him say. But it was like listening to someone through a tunnel. He was getting farther away.

"Love you..." I said again.

"Love you..." came that faraway reply.

"Love--Love you...I--lo--love...love--you, I love....I love...you..."

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Floating. That's how I would describe death. It's very much like floating. Hovering...drifting...riding a current. It's relaxed, it's smooth, and it's everywhere. I was floating in a world of white splotches, dark circles, and choppy backgrounds in varying shades of lightness, that only existed behind my eyelids. It was wonderful, and terrible at the same time. It was also empty. Where was Fang? I didn't see him anywhere. Was he hiding behind one of those dark circles? I reached for one, and my hand drifted out to touch it. He wasn't there. I kept going. Circle after circle, I drifted onwards, looking for my other half. My once numb fingers took on some feeling. I could feel the roughness or smoothness of each seperate circle. I could also feel the emptiness they faced. Then I saw something emerge from the very darkest of darknesses. A shimmering, warm light. Light wasn't the correct word to describe this. This was other worldly. This...this was more like a prescence. I could feel it, and the feeling was unmistakeable. It's the feeling I get inside of me everytime Fang smiled. I began to drift...to hover...to float over towards it. I pushed past every circle that brushed my hand, and I waded on. I would get there if it took me a million years. I had an infinite amount of time. I was dead, and time did not exist in this world on the other side of my eyes. And suddenly, I felt them. Hands. Hundreds...no thousands of them all over me. On my sides, on my forehead, on my legs, my arms, my everything. They were there, and they felt so heavy, so warm. I wanted to shake them all off, but at the same time I clung to the feeling. It took some of the emptiness away. It put the cork in the poison bottle, so to speak. But the hands were getting _too_ real. They were starting to contain too much feeling. Too much of everything. It began to sting, and shock, and pinch. I wanted out. I ran towards that prescence. I ran as fast as I could, never tiring. The hands, I had to escape them. I had to get out. I was so close. So near. And suddenly I burst through everything. My white-splotch-world exploded, and I was launched upwards with the feeling of being in a very fast elevator. My eyelids jolted open, as if sparked by an invisible current. My mouth flew open, and my senses came crashing back to me with such a force that it was actually painfull. The first color I saw when my mind started churning again, was chocolate. My favorite color in the whole entire universe. My lips were able to form one word, but it was the only word that mattered. "Fang." The chocolate turned warm, and soon more of the face that was built around the chocolate became clear. My other half was right here.

"Max..." he whispered. And I felt his hands in my hair. His hands weren't painfull like the others. His hands were soft, and wonderful, and warm. I could feel his lips on mine. And his breath mixing with mine again. I could feel all of it, and I loved all of it. My other senses kicked in soon afterwards. I could also feel the hard, hot ground underneath me. And the humid air that engulfed me. And I could hear voices chattering, and sirens squealing. I sat up, feeling slightly lightheaded. I looked around. We were outside Area 51, which was surrounded by helicopters, fire trucks, reporters, and thousands of people running around frantically. I was laying on the ground, and Fang was beside me, looking shaken, but unharmed. I picked myself up from the dusty ground, ignoring the dizzyness.

"What happened?" I asked, watching the people run around. Some were dragging people away to cars, others were unloading gear from helicopters. It was complete and total chaos. It was noisy chaos too. But, I heard one voice that stood out from all the others, and it was coming directly off to my left. I swiveled around, and was immeadiately met by and extremely flambouyant eleven year old with blond curls and bright blue eyes.

"Max!" she squealed into my shoulder. My arms flew around her, and I swung her around. I heard another chourus of Max's to my left. The rest of my flock was running at breakneck speed right towards me. Before I knew it, a very excited Gazzy slammed into us, and we were on the ground. Nudge, Iggy, Total, and even Fang soon joined us on the ground. We had a huge hug fest that lasted about fifteen minutes.

"Oh, Max! We thought you were gone for sure!" cried Nudge, who was in tears.

"What were you thinking, Max?!" Iggy said sternly, pulling me into a giant bearhug.

"Max...you scared me. Don't do that again." Angel whimpered, while practically jumping ontop of Fang. This went on for another couple minutes before we all calmed down. I suddenly thought of something.

"Holy crap! Where's Ella!?" I shouted, looking around frantically for any sign of my baby sister.

"Max!" I suddenly heard someone call. I turned around. Ella was pushing through a crowd of people, running as fast as she could to try and get to me. She lunged into me, and we found ourselves in a tangled mess of a hug. "Oh my God! I am totally coming with you the next time you go on a secret mission!" she squealed.

"Umm...yeah. Because this time went SO well..." I said sarcastically.

"Are you kiding me?! That was, like...the most fun I have ever had in my entire life! Got any more secret missions coming up?" I raised my eyebrows.

"Uh...I'll-uh...tell you the next time one pops up." I said slowly. She smiled brightly and ran off to hug Fang. I grinned. Everything looked okay for right now. I found my way over to Iggy. "So...what happened? How did I...not die?" Iggy opened his mouth to speak, but Gazzy interrupted him.

"Max...what happened to you guys?" he asked. Iggy sighed.

"Maybe we better sit down somewhere and work this out." he suggested. I nodded in agreement, and soon we were all sitting around in a circle. I had my head on Fang's shoulder, and Angel under my arm. I looked over at Iggy who was the designated story master.

"So...what happened? How did you guys know where to finds us?" I asked. Iggy thought for a minute.

"Well...when I went out with Total to the park...we actually didn't go to the park." he started. "I took him down to Bridgid's place to see Akila, and tell Bridgid the news." Iggy turned red with embarrasment for having gone somewhere without my permission. I kept quiet. "When we got there, Bridgid wasn't there, but Akila was tied up outside. And...it looked like it was going to rain, so we picked the lock to let Akila in, and we were just chilling there for a couple minutes while Total was talking to Akila. And just as we were about to leave, Total found some interesting stuff on Bridgid's kitchen table. Blueprints, papers filled with number codes...stuff like that. After reading a few of the notes, we discovered that Bridgid was up to no good, got Angel to track you down, and got here just in time to save you two." he concluded. We were quiet for a minute.

"How'd you guys get past the rooms?" I asked, wondering how my flock could've made it through so fast.

"What are you talking about?" Iggy asked, confused.

"You know...the rooms you had to go through to get to the place they had me and Fang. How'd you get through them so fast?" Iggy's eyebrows pinched together.

"What rooms, Max? The room you and Fang were in was just at the end of a really long hallway in one of the buildings we ran into. Actually, it was the very first building we ran into. It was really easy. The doors were open and everything." Me and Fang looked at eachother. Why had it been so easy for them, and so hard for me? Maybe the rooms weren't as loyal to Bridgid as she thought they were.

"So...what happened to _you_ guys?" Nudge asked, eager for something new to gossip about. I took a deep breath, and began retelling the whole story, skipping the part about the rooms so I didn't confuse anybody. When I was finished, everyone just stared at me in shock. The place was absolutely silent. Minus the hundreds of people running around screaming...

"Maximum Ride!" I heard a familiar voice say.

"Uh oh..." I muttered to Fang, who grinned. My mother stormed towards me, Steve trailing closely behind. Her face was tear streaked and she had dark circles under her eyes.

"Just what is going on here?" she stormed towards me. Her feet stopped suddenly when she saw Fang. "F--Fang?" she stuttered weakly. "I--I thought you were..." She trailed off. I jumped up. Suddenly, a pair of men in uniform burst out of one of the buildings, dragging Bridgid in between them.

"I'm telling you!" she shouted, "It's them you want!" She pointed at us. "They're bird mutants! They're going to take over the world if you let them have their way!" One of the men dragging her started laughing.

"Ha! Sure thing, crazy." he said, tossing her in the back of a truck. He slapped the hood twice. "Off to the psyche ward with you!" he called after the truck as it began to pull away. "Haha...bird mutants. Yeah right." My mom gaped.

"Wasn't that Bridgid Dwyer?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yup." I said simply.

"But...what..." I cut her off.

"Mom...how bout I explain everything over some lunch, 'cause I'm _starving_!" I said loudly. Fang grinned. Everyone climbed to their feet, muttering something about pizza. Angel grabbed my hand. I squeezed her hand in mine, and she squeezed back.

"Ow!" she said suddenly, pulling her hand back. I glanced down. Shit! She had squeezed the ring. I tried to hide it, but it was too late. "Max! You and Fang are getting married!" she cried with excitement. Everyone turned to stare at us.

"Uh..." I said nervously.

"Yep..." Fang came in, stepping to my side. "We're getting married." Everyone was quiet.

"Wait...what?" said my mom. I grinned and laughed a little.

"Come on guys...lets talk about all this over lunch. Pizza, anyone?" I asked. After a minute, everyone started nodding and walking in the direction of the nearest car. I laughed some more. It was funny how easily my flock's attention was swayed by the offering of food. I grabbed Fang's hand, ready to walk towards the car, but I noticed that my mom was waiting for me. "You go ahead..." I whispered to Fang, nudging him forward. He started to walk off, and my mom came over.

"Max..." she started.

"I know...I know...I'm in big trouble, I'm so grounded. Can we talk about punishment later?" I pleaded. To my surprise, she actually started laughing. I raised my eyebrows. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Max...you're not in trouble." she said.

"I'm not?" She grinned again.

"No...but I do have a few new rules for you." she said, starting to walk towards the car.

"Oh great..." I groaned. "Can't you just punish me instead?" She continued like I hadn't said anything.

"No more hi-jacking helicopters. No more getting old friends arrested..."

"Mom..." I tried to cut in.

"No more rampaging through military bases."

"Mom." I tried again. She went on, unphased. She was either deaf, or ignoring me completely.

"No more playing James Bond with your sister. No more--"

"MOM!" I yelled. She stopped this time.

"What?!" We had reached the car by now.

"Sausage, cheese or pepperoni?" I asked calmly. She opened her mouth to say something, but I raised my eyebrows to stop her. She sighed.

"Pepperoni..." she said, defeated. I grinned.

"That's what I thought. Now go ahead, and get in the car, Mom." I opened the door and beckoned her to climb inside. She grumbled, but obliged. I grinned, climbing in after her. I found a seat next to Fang, and lay my head on his shoulder. He kissed the top of my head.

"Long day?" he asked quietly.

"You have no frickin' idea..." I muttered. I felt him chuckle underneath me. And with that, we sped off in the direction of the nearest pizza place, the Nevada sun beating down on the roof of the car, the promise of some very long, very complicated explanations laying ahead of me.

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Allelujia! That only took me about two weeks to write. Sorry for the wait. I hope it was worth it. Final chapter. I don't feel like writing a sequel. Never really been my thing. Anyways...a huge thankyou to all of my reviewers, especially those that have been reviewing since I first started this story. This story is dedicated to you guys. My "fans". Thankyou for your imput and support! Luv ya!

**Just a Side Note**: Okay...I was watching the MTV music awards thingy, and I saw the part where Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech, and I just wanted to say that it was NOT cool. Supid Kanye...he can go to hell for all I care. Sorry...that was a little harsh, but he just _doesn't_ seem like a very nice guy to me. That was not a nice thing to do. Kanye...if you for some reason are randomly reading this...I just wanted to tell you...That one day...when you win some sort of award...I'm gonna get over there, climb up on stage, and tell everyone that someone else deserved to win that award, just like you did to poor Taylor. Not a HUGE fan of hers, but she worked her butt off to win that award, and she deserved to have her moment. So, Kanye...stop being an asshole, and go fork yourself!

Thanks again for reading, everyone. Hope you liked it!

**SO LONG AND GOOD NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**


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